Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Tabriz Opens for Rumi

MNA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Monday, July 30

The University of Tabriz is to hold a two-day international congress to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi. It will take place on October 31 and November 1.

Iranian and foreign researchers and experts on Rumi are scheduled to participate in the event, the secretary of the congress told the Persian service of IRNA on Monday.

Khalil Hadidi stated that scholars from countries including France, Germany, India, China, Malaysia, Turkey, the United States, and Canada, will be attending the congress. Discussions and reviews will be held focusing on the life and characteristics of Rumi, his mysticism, philosophy, language and literature and his followers and opponents.

“Those who are interested in attending the event should send synopses of their discourses to the secretariat of the congress at the Persian and Foreign Language Department of the University of Tabriz before September 6,” Hadidi added.

The congress is cosponsored by the Society for Wisdom and Philosophy and the University of Tabriz.

UNESCO has designated 2007 "The Year of Rumi" to mark the 800th birth anniversary of this illustrious philosopher and mystical poet.

[picture: Autmn in Tabriz' University http://www2.tabrizu.ac.ir/show.asp?id=65]

From East to West: a Dance for Peace

[From the Italian language press]:

E' iniziata il 28 luglio e proseguirà fino al 5 agosto la quinta edizione della manifestazione "Da Oriente a Occidente: una danza per la pace" organizzata dall'Associazione Culturale Maeva e dal Centro Asani di Porto d'Ascoli.

Sambenedetto Oggi, Italy - mercoledì 25 luglio 2007 - di Cinzia Rosati

The fifth edition of the manifestation “From East to West: a dance for peace" began on July the 28th and will continue til August the 5th; it is organized by the Cultural Association Maeva and the Center Asani of Porto d'Ascoli (Ancona).

Workshops of dance will be held, during the days of the event, by the two Egyptian dance' masters Ashraf Hassan and Wael Mansour, introducing to various styles of Oriental dances, like Saaidi, Andalusian and Tannoura (the dance of the Egyptian sufis).

Ms. Najma Asani, founder of the Asani Center of Porto d'Ascoli, says that the culture of Oriental dance holds a place in its own right among the performing arts in most European countries, but it is still widely misunderstood in Italy.

[picture: U.S. Ambassador in Cairo, Mr Francis J. Ricciardone, attended evening moulid festivities on November 16 in Tanta. The famous moulid of Al-Sayyad Al-Badawi is attended by millions annually. Pictured here, the Ambassador listens to Sheikh Hassan Al-Shanawi, the Head of Egypt's Sufi order. Also pictured (left to right) are: Dr. Mahmoud Abuzaid, Minister of Irrigation; Sheikh Al-Shanawi; Dr. Ali Saman, Head of Al-Azhar's Committee on Interfaith Dialogue; and Gharbiya Governor Al-Dakrouri; cairo.usembassy.gov/ambassador/tr111605.htm]

Monday, July 30, 2007

Ibn Khaldoun

[From the French language press]:

La revue scientifique de l'université [tunisienne] Ezzitouna, Al-Mishkat, a récemment publié son 4e numéro, consacré à Ibn Khaldoun.

On y trouve des articles, essentiellement en langue arabe, mais aussi quelques-uns en langue française.

Il s'agit d'un numéro spécial, consacré au sixième centenaire de la mort [Cairo, 1406 CE] du grand savant du XIVe siècle.

All Africa/La Presse - Tunis, Tunisia - vendredi 27 juillet, 2007 - par R. S.

The scientific review of the [Tunisian] Ezzitouna university, Al-Mishkat, published recently its 4th number, devoted to Ibn Khaldoun.

One finds there articles, primarily in the Arab language, but also some in the French language.

It is a special number, devoted to the sixth centenary of the death of the great scientist of the 14th century.

The review of Ezzitouna approaches primarily the theoretical part of the work of Ibn Khaldoun, i.e. Muqaddima, and this, under the angle of its bond with the great questions of theology and jurisprudence.

The Arabic language' part, which is some 420 pages long , presents 17 articles which cover aspects as varied as the Khaldounian approach of the bases of jurisprudence and Maliki school; the scientist's approach to the Arab language; his views of the relation between religion and assabiyya [group' consciousness]; and Ibn Khaldoun on Sufism.

[About Ibn Khaldoun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun
http://www.eicds.org/
http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ei2/KHALDUN.htm]

[About 'assabiyya: http://proteus.brown.edu/arabiaandarabs/1821]

[picture: statue of Ibn Khaldoun in Tunis, Tunisia, avenue Habib Bourguiba;
source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldoun]

Sunday, July 29, 2007

"Sufism Has Always Been More Feminine"

By Boyd Tonkin - The Independent - London, U.K.

Friday, July 27, 2007

A writer who weds the modern and the mystic, Elif Shafak was born in France to a Turkish diplomatic family in 1971, and as a child lived in Spain, Jordan and Germany before studying in Ankara.

She has taught Ottoman history and culture at Istanbul Bilgi University and, from 2002, at American universities in Boston, Michigan and Tucson, Arizona.

A prolific columnist and fiction writer, she has published six novels: The Flea Palace (shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) and The Gaze are available in the UK from Marion Boyars. Her novel The Bastard of Istanbul provoked a court case in 2006 that led to her acquittal on a charge of "insulting Turkishness".

Shafak, whose daughter Shehrazad Zelda was born at the time of her trial, now lives in Istanbul.
After years of interviewing ego-driven writers, one truth looms larger all the time for me. Authors who have precious little to say or to fear always make the biggest fuss about their precious work and their sacred little selves.

Then there is the modest minority in whom talent, courage and self-knowledge converge; who fight high-stakes battles against dangerous enemies, but never succumb to vanity, bitterness or dogmatism.

Quietly eloquent at breakfast-time in her Bloomsbury hotel, the Turkish novelist, journalist and academic Elif Shafak explains how the Sufi strand of Islam that she loves helps to ground her in internal as well as external realities.

"It's an endless chain," she explains. "I'm both observing the outside world, and observing myself. And this is something that perhaps I derive from Sufism. Because I think the human being is a microcosm: all the conflicts present outside are also present inside him."
Compared to the trivial spats that occupy so many writers in the West, Shafak has had to endure enough external conflict over the past year to extinguish many lesser lights. In September 2006, she joined the scores of Turkish authors and intellectuals (notably, Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) who have faced trial for the crime of "insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the republic's penal code.

Inevitably, the charges – pushed through by a cabal of hard-line nationalist lawyers – stemmed from a fictional discussion of the mass deportations and deaths of Armenians in 1915, as the Ottoman empire crumbled, at one point in her new novel The Bastard of Istanbul (published by Viking, £16.99).
The hearing took place just as her first child, a daughter named Shehrazad Zelda, was born. Shafak was rapidly acquitted; a verdict welcomed at the time by Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (re-elected last Sunday).

In court in Istanbul, she faced a Satanic Verses-style charade, with the words of one (Armenian) character in a novel of cultural and emotional polyphony plucked from their context and treated as a manifesto. With one, crucial difference from Salman Rushdie's plight: the judicial harassment of authors in Turkey comes not from Islamist forces but secular chauvinists.
Although she has had to walk through fire, Shafak carries herself with an uncanny air of calm ("cool" would be misleading; she has warmth as well as poise).

Much of her mischievous fiction plays with the treachery of appearances, the mutability of identities. What you see is, consistently, not what you get. Take the headscarf, now worn by around 60 per cent of Turkish women. Shafak explores its multiple meanings, with only some of them linked in any way to political Islam.

The Bastard of Istanbul, with the matriarchal clan of the Kazancis at his heart, dramatises the kind of Turkish family where "Sometimes the mother's covered and the daughter isn't; one elder sister is a leftist; another is very superstitious. We are very much mixed, and I think there's nothing bad about it."

As she puts it, "Islam is not a monolith. It's not a static thing at all. And neither is the issue of the headscarf."
Shafak herself could baffle stereotypes as gleefully as her characters often do. Born in Strasbourg, to a family of diplomats, she had a father who left home early on and a feminist mother (a foreign-ministry official in her own right) who brought her up in Spain, Jordan and Germany. She has taught in three American states and travelled all over the world. The author of six exuberantly digressive novels packed to bursting with jokes, tales and ideas ("carnivalesque", she calls them), she first wrote The Bastard of Istanbul and its predecessor not in Turkish but in English.

"If it's sadness I'm dealing with," she says, "I prefer Turkish; for humour, I prefer English."

Now here she sits in a Bloomsbury hotel lounge, peppering her conversation with references to Johnny Cash or Walter Benjamin. An archetype of the secular, Westernised Turkish woman? Not at all: her involvement with the path of Sufism began as an intellectual quest, but deepened.

"Only years later did I realise that perhaps this was more than intellectual curiosity, that it was also an emotional bond. Sufism has always been more open to women, and it's always been more feminine."
(...)
For Shafak, art must struggle to safeguard its space of free enquiry from the dead hand of doctrine: "Because the world we live in is so polarised and politicised, many people are not willing to understand that art and literature has an autonomous zone of existence... I'm not saying there is no dialectic between art and politics – there is, indeed – but art cannot be under the shadow of politics."

"Art has the capacity constantly to deconstruct its own truths... That's again why I think there's a link between Sufism and literature. For me, both of them are about transcending the self, the boundaries given by birth."

"I think it's perfectly OK to be multi-lingual, multi-cultural, even multi-faith," she adds when we talk of her current fascination with the "labyrinth" of the English language. "In a world that's always asking us to make a choice once and for all, we should say, 'No: I'm not going to make that choice. I'm going to stay plural'."

Saturday, July 28, 2007

"Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Right-doing there Is a Field"

By Ted Merwin - The Washington Post - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

When the Pakistani scholar Akbar Ahmed arrived at American University in August 2001 as the new Ibn Khaldun chairman of Islamic Studies, he thought he knew what work lay ahead: Teach classes, write books and share his deep knowledge of Islamic religion and culture.

A month later, as the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were in ashes and flames, Ahmed quickly realized he had an urgent and timely mission: bridge the yawning chasm between the West and the Muslim world.
Ahmed, 64, whom the BBC has dubbed "probably the world's best-known scholar on contemporary Islam," tirelessly promotes interfaith relations through his scholarship (he has 30 books to his credit); his television appearances on CNN, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Nightline" and elsewhere; and his public dialogues with Judea Pearl, father of slain Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl.

Now Ahmed has found a new forum in which to communicate his message. His first theatrical drama, "Noor," will receive its world premiere in a staged reading tonight [July 26th] at 6 as part of Theater J's "Voices From a Changing Middle East" series, part of this summer's Capital Fringe Festival.

Speaking by phone, Ahmed predicted that his play would help "shatter the idea of Islam as a monolith."

"Noor," directed by Shirley Serotsky, is the tale of three brothers who try desperately to rescue their sister Noor, who has been kidnapped by unidentified soldiers during Ramadan. (Noor means light in Arabic and is one of Islam's 99 names for God.)

The play's setting is unnamed; in an introductory note, the playwright says it could be Baghdad, Cairo, Karachi or Kabul.

Each brother represents a different ideological position in the contemporary Islamic world. The eldest, Abdullah, is a Sufi mystic whose sheik counsels him to rely on prayer. The second brother, Ali, is a lawyer who appeals for help from a government minister who turns out to be corrupt. The third, Daoud, sees no recourse except violence.

The catastrophe deepens when the mother of Noor's fiance breaks off the engagement, refusing to allow her son to marry a girl who almost certainly has been raped. The play concludes with the return of Noor (played by Ahmed's daughter, Nefees Ahmed, a senior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda).

Noor reads a poem from Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet, about two lovers meeting in a field "out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing."

The play's message is one of religious tolerance, placing it squarely in the tradition of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's 18th-century drama "Nathan the Wise," in which three major religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- are shown to have deeper commonalities than differences.

But in "Noor," the brothers exemplify the three principal methods adopted by Muslims to cope with the crisis of modern Islam -- a crisis that scholars date to the rise of industrialization in the 19th century and the concomitant spread of Western ideas about equality, democracy and women's rights.

Ahmed says his goal is to enlighten Americans about the diversity of positions within the Muslim world -- which is the overriding theme of his recently published book "Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization."

He says that what the West views as violence motivated by religious extremism is actually often motivated by mainstream Muslims' attempts to defend their honor and dignity. He also is highly critical of the American media for propagating images of Muslims as mindless and bloodthirsty.

Ahmed avers that these inflammatory media images, along with the American military presence in the Middle East, "create the perception that Islam is under attack. This makes ordinary Muslims look to those who can stand up and fight back."

So it is religion, he says, that is often used to fan the flames of hatred. Updating Karl Marx's phrase, Ahmed is fond of saying: "Religion is no longer the opiate of the masses. It is the speed of the masses."
What deepens the divide, Ahmed says, is the brain drain of Muslim scholars from the Arab world, many of whom have been killed or have fled to the West. "The scholarly vacuum," he lamented, "leaves thugs and tyrants."

Yet his play reflects how learning is revered in Muslim cultures. "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr," exclaims one of the characters in "Noor," quoting the Koran.
(...)
Staging "Noor" in a Jewish theater is itself highly symbolic -- a step toward opening up a crucial dialogue.

"You can't dramatize the Arab-Israeli conflict without dramatizing the Arab experience," Mr Ari Roth [artistic director of Theater J]says. "We need to listen to each other and hear each other's stories."

[picture: Mr Akbar Ahmed. Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post]

Friday, July 27, 2007

We All Try To Contribute

By Shokufeh Kavani - Persian Mirror - U.S.A.

Friday, July 27, 2007

This is the year of Mevlana and we all try to contribute our share to Mevlana Rumi, one of our greatest poets and Sufi's who became a worldwide phenamenon and lives ever happily after in people's heart all over the world.

I would like to introduce to you the book that I translated from English into Persian about Mevlana Rumi, written by Ira Friedlander by the name of 'Whirling Dervishes ' which has been published in Iran, year 2003 and has sold out.

The first time I saw the English version of the book, I was amazed by the beauty of the photos that Mrs. Ira Friedlaner, now the head of the apple graphic centre at American Cairo University, and Mr. Nazieh Oozal have taken from the Konya, Mevlana tomb and the Whirling Dervishes ceremony.

It is beautifully captured in black and white and takes the readers inside the world of these holy men. This book also narrates the last 200 years of the Mevlavieh sect and what has happened to them and their centres in Turkey and during the power of Kamal Attatork from a very good historical angle.
The book can not be found in Iran due to high demand, but the English version is available:
Ira Friedlander
The Whirling Dervishes, , Being an Account of the Sufi Order Known As the Mevlevis and Its Founder the Poet and Mystic Mevlana Jalalu'Ddin Rumi
Macmillan Publishing Company (January 1975)
ISBN-10: 002065300X
ISBN-13: 978-0020653004

Shokufeh Kavani moved to Australia in 1997 and is currently living in Sydney. She works as an operating theatre nurse but considers art her true passion. She has been nominated for the "Australian of the Year Award 2005 & 2007 " and "The Pride of the Australian Medal" by the Daily Telegraph magazine.

Ideology of Intolerance: a Crisis of Ignorance

By Sadia Dehlvi - Hindustan Times - India Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Yes, the Muslim world is facing oppression and injustice, but we can no longer escape the fact that we have enemies within the community.

The Glasgow attack and the Lal Masjid horror are recent examples of extremism and terror. Clearly there is a crisis of ignorance, leadership and faith.

Muslims must acknowledge that there is a radical fringe which needs to be identified and rejected. We cannot allow the pulpits of our mosques or the institutions of learning to be seized for the discourse of anger and the rhetoric of rage. It has become imperative to understand the root of militancy, which is transforming the glorious tradition of spiritual quest and scholarship in Islam to one of terror.

Prophet Mohammad said, “Beware of extremism in your religion”. This ideology of extremism stems from religious outfits like Tablighi Jamaat whose recruits are operating world over. Tablighi Jamaat was founded by Deobandi cleric Maulana Mohammad Ilyas Kandhalawi in 1920. The Jamaat-e-Islami, Ahle Hadis and Salafis share similar views.

Islam in the subcontinent is the legacy of the Sufis. Wahabism is an import from Saudia Arabia, which seeks inspiration from Ibn Wahab who died in 1786 AD. Unfortunately its followers are unaware of the political and religious activities of its founder and have become victims of the mission rhetoric: “purify and spread Islam”, which allows emotion to rule over knowledge.

The Wahabis reject the historical Islamic belief that the spiritual chains of Sufi orders (silsilas) are linkages to Prophet Mohammad. Ibn Taymiyya, a 14th century scholar, remains the primary source for Wahabi ideology who was barred from teaching and jailed several times in Damascus for issuing heretical fatwas. Taymiyya’s life was spared because he publicly repented amid 700 scholars. He slandered the Caliphs Ali and Osman, discredited Sufi scholars like Ibn Arabi and Imam Ghazali, preaching that visiting the Prophet’s shrine was sin.

Inspired by Taymiyyas forgotten teachings Abd al-Wahab of Nejd in East Arabia saw himself as a reformer and preached that Muslims who sought intercession to God through Prophet Mohammad and the Sufis are polytheists who practice shirk (innovation).

Ibn Wahab’s initial devotees were largely Bedouins and he declared those who did not believe in his teachings as unbelievers. He told them: “It is halal (permissible) to kill and plunder Muslims who make mediators of the prophet and auliyas (Sufis) with a view to attain closeness to Allah.”

The Bedouins used the verdict to justify the loot of Haj pilgrims. Ibn Wahab taught that it was sinful to build tombs over graves and said: “If I could I would demolish the Prophet’s shrine.” He did not believe that waqf foundations were Islamic and pronounced that salaries to Qazis were unlawful bribes.

Ibn Wahab burnt original Sufi manuscripts including copies of the world famous Muslim prayer manual “Dalail ul Khairaat” by the 15th century Moroccan Sufi scholar Jazuli because along with salutations and blessings to the Prophet, its narrative included an eloquent portrait of the Prophet’s shrine. His followers plundered and desecrated the tomb of the Prophet’s grandson Imam Hussain in Karbala.

Wahabi orthodoxy was a minor current in the Muslim world till promoted by the Al Saud dynasty that came to power in 1924. The house of Saud established matrimonial alliances with Ibn Wahab’s family furthering his strident teachings to justify their take-over of the holy cities and establish the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The royals ran bulldozers over the remnants of all meditation cells and the early Sufi tombs along with the adjoining mosques. The historical tombs of the Prophet’s family and his companions at Jannat ul-Maali and Jannat ul-Baqi, the sacred graveyards of Mecca and Medina were razed to the ground.

Mecca and Medina are now managed by the Wahabis and their control has robbed pilgrims of the right to express devotion in a manner of their choice. Constant patrol of the muttawas (religious police) ensures that pilgrims don’t touch the exteriors of the prophet’s shrine or offer salutations to him. At Medina turning towards the Prophet’s tomb for supplication (dua) is met with harsh reactions and pilgrims are forcibly turned around to face the direction of the Kabbah. Women are allowed in the compound but are subject to severe restrictions of time and space.

Through well-funded outreach organisations the Wahabis spread their version of Islam where listening to music, celebrating the annual birth anniversary of the Prophet (milad-e-nabi) and death anniversaries of the Sufis (Urs) are unlawful in Islam.

Be it for Muslims or non-Muslim, the Wahabi ideology is rooted in the politics of extremism and terror negating the Quranic message of peace and brotherhood. “Islam is a religion of peace,” has been reduced to a mere cliché.

Muslims have to become good communicators of that Quranic and prophetic message by reclaiming their lost intellectual heritage and reviving academic discourse on the rightful traditions of Islam.

“… and who saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of mankind.” — The Quran 5:32

[picture: Location of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Pakistan (marked with a red spot).
Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lal_Masjid]

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Spiritual Peace: Teachings for Lovers

By Ali Usman - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Jandiala Sher Khan, a small town on Hafizabad Road, some 14 kilometres away from Sheikhupura gets over-packed from July 23 to 25 every year when people from all over Punjab visit the town to pay tribute to one of the greatest Sufi poets of Punjab, Waris Shah.

The town is the birthplace of Shah, called by many as the saint of love and tolerance. Shah was the most prominent Punjabi poet of the 18th century.

He was born in the house of Syed Gul Sher in 1722 and died in 1798 in the same village. He got his early education in a mosque in Jandiala Sher Khan. The mosque still exists to the northwest of the tomb.

The poet completed his formal education of Dars-e-Nizami in Kasur by Molvi Ghulam Murtaza Kasuri. Bullay Shah (another great Punjabi poet) had also been a student of the same seminary. Later, for spiritual training, Waris Shah went to Pakpattan at the shrine of Baba Fareed. He later became Imam in a mosque at Malika Hans.

Heer, a romantic folk tale, is considered Waris Shah’s masterpiece.

In the three-day fair of Shah’s urs, various events take place including kabaddi matches, horse dances, Punjabi poetry sessions, dramas of Heer Ranjha and many folk dances.

Ibrahim, a 70-year devotee, who had come to the fair from Shah Kot told Daily Times that the fair was a gathering of those who were against ‘stick-wielding Islam’ and ‘hardcore’ mullahs. He said he had visited the shrine for many years and participation in the fair gave him spiritual peace. He said he was illiterate but his love for Sufism had taught him to say verses. He said he loved participating in the poetry competition held at the festival.

“Waris Shah’s teachings are for lovers. Those who do not believe in love cannot benefit from the shrine”, he said.

He said Waris Shah was a great inspiration for those who believed in love.

Like in other years, this year, a Punjabi poetry competition (Mushiara) was held on the first day of the urs in which winners were awarded cash prizes. Competitions of flute playing and kabaddi were also held on the first day. The final competition and a special programme of reciting folk tales was held on Wednesday.

Bibi Hajan, a devotee from Gujranwala, said Shah was a saint and the wishes of those who visited his shrine were fulfilled. She said there was a tradition at the shrine of tying strings and making a wish. “Those who do not have doubt and malice in their hearts come to open the strings and distribute langar (free food) among the devotees”.

She said she believed that Waris Shah was a mystic who kept the spark of love alight in people’s heart.

Amjad Ali Zaragar, a Lahori dervish said he attended the fair every year along with his followers. He said the place was a refuge for those who had to face criticism for falling in love.

Auqaf Department Takes Over Shrine After Succession Dispute

By Abdul Manan - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Auqaf Department has taken over the shrine of Chiragh Ali Shah after a succession dispute within the family of Auqaf minister Sahabzada Saeedul Hassan, Daily Times has learnt.

Sources told Daily Times on Sunday that the minister’s cousins had alleged official manoeuvring on the minister’s part, while the minister, who is an equal claimant to succession of the shrine, called his cousins’ allegation baseless.

The shrine of Chiragh Shah, the Auqaf minister’s grandfather, was formally taken over by the department last week. The minister and his cousin Syed Hassan Hayat are claiming succession.

“Our family has been quarrelling for some time now and this shrine has become the bone of contention,” said Hayat Shah and his younger brother Syed Zahid Hussain Shah.They alleged that Saeedul Hassan had used the Auqaf Department for personal issues and had also violated the shrine’s sanctity.

Zahid Shah claimed that his brother Hayat Shah was the true successor to their grandfather’s legacy.Saeedul Hassan denied the allegations, saying the Auqaf Department had received many complaints from the people against Hayat and Zahid Shah. He said that was why the department decided to step in and control the situation. He said that as a minister it was his responsibility to improve the quality of the shrine and help followers by setting up a darul aloom in the structure.

He also alleged that his cousins went against family tradition and sold taweez (talismans) and other relics to make money. “Their activities are defaming my family and causing problems for us,” he said, adding that he would take a stance against them.

He said Sufism did not preach people to be materialistic and that was why it was wrong for his cousins to do such stuff.

Anwar Ali Shah, the minister’s younger brother, alleged that the cousins had exploited poor women and made money off of them. He said the Auqaf Department would soon ask the brothers to leave the shrine. Tassawar Ejaz Malik, Auqaf Department zonal administrative, said the shrine had been given to the department after a lot of people had complained against the minister’s cousins.

Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Auqaf Department state officer, said that under the Waqf Property Ordinance 1979 and revised rules framed by the department under the ordinance in 2002, the department could take over any shrine or property on the grounds complaints received by locals or if the shrine income was more than its expenditures.

“In the Chiragh Shah shrine case, we received complaints from individuals and also conducted a survey through our administrator and revenue officer,” he said, adding, “The report showed that the income of the shrine was much more than its expenditures”.

Syed Chiragh Ali Shah, commonly known as Baba Jee Sarkar, was a saint and mystic poet who attracted people from far and wide. After his death people built a shrine on his grave. Chiragh Ali Shah was born at Anmbala city in 1877 and adhered to the Qadria Order.

In 1954 he shifted to Walton where he passed away on April 4, 1969. Chiragh Shah served his mentor for 30 years while his son Syed Irshad Hussain Shah, also known as Hafiz Sarkar, served his father for 36 years. Hafiz Sarkar is the Auqaf minister’s father.

On average about 500 devotees visit the shrine every day.

Islam and Reform Round Up

By Ali Eteraz - The Huffington Post - NY, NY, U.S.A.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I have noticed a glut of information among average Americans on reform and progressive Islam. This causes many Americans to buy into dishonest ideas about Muslims and the Muslim world, such as: they need us to save themselves.

In this occasional "round up" series I will direct people to interesting theological and political developments as well as good blogs, books and articles on lifestyle stuff.

* Discussion about a major Pakistani scholar who helped repeal the heinous rape laws of 1979 which had required four witnesses to prove a rape case. His sustained attack on violent interpretations of Islam is also highlighted, as well as his background. I consider him one of the three most important Muslims in the world today.

* Blogger compares flirting in New York with flirting in Kuwait. Balances it out with news about female activist who is a role model for Kuwaiti women.

* Essential blog on Muslim world and democracy.

* This blogger wants someone to start monitoring Muslim fashion - and links to some pictures.

* Egyptian-American enters country music, and does it well.

* Major American-Muslim leader says that holocaust denial is against Islam.

* Muslims for Progressive Values, based in the U.S., get their official launch.

* I discover an excellent website to get information about Iran.

* UK Muslim argues that terrorism must be condemned for its "inherent injustice."

* A good book to read about how a Muslim jurist reconcile injustice among Muslims and his faith is The Search for Beauty in Islam.

* In the mood for a novel about genies, Sufis and the Israeli Defense Force? Check out Irving Karchmar's Master of the Jinn. It's Sufism meets The Mummy. In the tradition of cool Sufi things, its affordable!

* Yahya Birt's blog deals with radicalism and deradicalization among UK Muslims, multiculturalism and the Islamic tradition. Heavier, but necessary, fare.

* Harvard Law Review article about one of Pakistan's persecuted minority community.

* Egypt's Grand Mufti affirms liberal democracy. Now if they could only get rid of that dictator.

* In order to recognize that Islamic Reform is not necessarily a theological movement but something part and parcel of world human rights and social justice, it would be apt to read this commentary on the state of the world's human rights by the head of Amnesty International.

* Just so we know there is a lot of hard work left, here are a couple of bad news items.

That's all. If readers wish to share news items they come across, email them to me: eteraz at gmail dot com. If you are a blogger and want to share a post, stop by my blog when I do a "round up call."

He Spoke It Better



By Jonathan Rothman - Exclaim! - Canada
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Gaudi is an Italian-born, UK-based producer, composer and arranger with an eclectic discography full of dub-infused surprises.

This time out, he uses sacred vocals from the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (“the Bob Marley of Pakistan”), revered as a master of Qawwali, the devotional Sufi music of the subcontinent.

Dub Qawwali balances the bouncy tones and sampled wonder of dub reggae with Khan’s trademark vocals, in this case newly discovered recordings from late ’60s/early ’70s studio sessions in Pakistan, around which Gaudi was entrusted to compose new music.

Standout tracks like album opener “Bethe Bethe Kese Kese” plays off Khan’s more contemplative side, with backing tablas, flute and Sarangi (Indian fiddle), while “Ena Akhiyan Noo” blends the sublime vocals with easy dancehall and dub.

What’s your connection to the man and his music?
My connection is that of an explorer inspired by the work of a great master. My aim from the start was to create something fresh while staying true to the essence of the material: Nusrat’s vocals. [I now have] an even greater respect for his music, what he achieved, and is still achieving, with and through his music: touching and moving people the world over regardless of colour or creed.

He knew that music is the only truly international language and an amazing way to break down barriers and prejudice. The difference is that he spoke it better than most.

What about Qawwali music compels you to give it the dub/reggae treatment?
I must admit to having a natural compulsion to give everything the dub/reggae treatment — in all my 11 album releases you can definitely spot it. However, in this case I felt this urge was fully supported by Nusrat.

Sufism teaches peace, love and tolerance, something for which Nusrat was a very active and global ambassador. This is what I have tried, in my way, to convey through this album — a musical melting of boundaries and unification through song.

[Listen to samples: http://www.amazon.com/Dub-Qawwali-Gaudi/dp/B000RHRG4O ]

Rumi Festival 2007

The Rifa'i Maruf'i Order of North America invites seekers of all ages to the 10th Rumi Festival
celebrating the 800th Birthday of Rumi.

The Festival will be held from Wednesday, September 26th to Sunday, September 30th,
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A., with concerts, workshops, zikr and various events.

Read more about this joyous event and register online at:
http://www.melloweb.com/home/

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Solitary Devotion

By Vivek Sharma - Desicritics.org - Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Rilke is the Rumi, Kabir, Gibran of the German language. As a poet, as a seeker, he explored the limits of his knowledge and belief. He translated his solitary thoughts into poetry which has music, meaning and agelessness.

What this prose, these letters contain is a faithful, forthright, candid and very modest, searching, guiding voice of Rilke.

In these letters, written to a younger poet, who sought Rilke's guidance, Rilke chalks out his whole ideology of what poetry must be, and how a poet must reach above, beyond and deep within himself, to arrive at the inevitable verse, which is both timely and timeless, not only for himself but also for the reader.

As a craft, poetry is full of solitary devotion. The premium and investment in terms of poet's emotional and intellectual effort is seldom rewarded. A poet lives on the edge, and always runs the danger of tipping into the pits of self-pity, destruction and death-like poverty.

The world seldom honors a poet in his prime, rather the best of the best poets compose their work in spite of the social, political and economic obligations they need to fulfill, obligations that motivate poetry, as well as impede the writing of it.

Sheer talent is not enough, mere vocabulary does not quite make you one, rhyming words and dedication are mere abilities, knowledge of published works is important, and yet what Rilke strove for, what Rilke achieved and what he advises the readers/poets to seek is a state where all these attributes synchronize to produce a poem that is at once lyrical and philosophical, understated yet powerful, terse yet tactful, and most importantly, honest and heartfelt.

There are very few books that have touched the poet in me thus. Maugham's Of Human Bondage and Tolstoy's War and Peace come to my mind when I think of effectiveness of Rilke's prose. Yet Rilke, like his Russian idols, is bathed in realism, he seeks for life outside cities and savors spirituality that he most probably carried within him. Selected Poems of Rilke translated by Robert Bly is a recommended resource, as is The Book of Hours (whose new translation is only couple of years old).

I will encourage every writer, who takes his vocation with seriousness to read Rilke. Like Neruda, Shakespeare, Kalidasa, Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Goethe, Tagore, Pushkin, Ghalib, Hafez, Basho, Dinkar, Tulsidas, Homer, Milton and Lorca, Rilke is a must read poet for everyone interested in poetry and life. This book is a collection of letters, so is not to be confused with Poetry Handbooks or Guides that are available everywhere. These letters are personal admissions and advice of Rilke to a younger poet.

Rilke started writing these when he was in late twenties, and was still groping for his voice, his intention, his ability. The letters are moving and touching. They are like streams of thought that will shape the terrain they flow through, assuage the thirst of ones who arrive at them and if you let yourself go, carry you to the ocean of consciousness.

Vivek Sharma is a poet, an engineer, a scientist and a writer. He is published in both refereed literary and science journals, and his poetry was recently nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He contributes articles to Divya Himachal (Hindi newspaper in India) and online to himachal.us, desicritics.org and blogcritics.org.

What's the Secret?

By Haroon Siddiqui - The Star - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Dakar, Senegal: We know Senegal as the westernmost point of Africa, a shipping point of the old slave trade, and, lately, the Dakar Rally and as West Africa's most politically stable country where governments change democratically.

Senegal should also be known as the nation that upends the West's received wisdom on Muslims.
This is not Al Qaeda turf. And the 10 million people (94 per cent Muslim, 6 per cent Christian) here don't fit any cliché.

There are no hijabs in sight, but women are observant. They pray at work and in the mosques, where, unlike in some Muslim lands, they are welcome.

What's most striking about the women – more than their colourful long robes and matching turbans – is their confident bearing. They exhibit neither hostility nor deference to men. They seem their sovereign selves.

They enjoy equality in property and other matters under a law that's a fusion of the sharia and the French civil code.

Singing and dancing are integral parts of life. Youssou N'Dour, the singer, songwriter and band leader whose keening, haunting voice transcends the language barrier to touch audiences the world over, learned to perform with his mother, a griot singer of oral songs dating back to pre-Islamic times.

Music here is infused with the spirituality of the Islamic Sufi sects to which most Senegalese belong. In his Grammy-winning CD, Egypt (2004), N'Dour invokes "Touba, Touba," the headquarters of the Mouridi order of which he is a member.

Touba, 200 kilometres north of Dakar, is where the sect's founder Shaikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke (1850-1927) is buried. In 1891, the mystic claimed to have seen the Prophet Muhammad in a dream. As he amassed a mass following, the French colonials feared he might raise an army of resistance. They exiled him, to Gabon (1895-1902) and Mauritania (1903-1907). That only made him more popular.

The French let him return once they realized he was a pacifist, like Mahatma Gandhi in India against British colonial rule.

Bamba was also apolitical, preaching the Greater Jihad of controlling oneself, a war fought not with weapons but, as per his simplified creed, hard work and fidelity to the spiritual master.
His mausoleum is a popular place of pilgrimage. His descendant, Shaikh Saliou Mbacke, is the current head of the sect.

The day I was there he was available to his followers, not to speak to but to be glimpsed at through an iron grille as he sat in a silent praying repose. Such veneration – saint worship, in critical theological parlance – is not exclusive to Senegal. But it seemed to me to be pervasive here.

The evening I returned from Touba, I went to listen to a backup singer for Baaba Ma'al, that other great Senegalese performer, and saw the bar crowd swaying to his Sufi chant of "Mouridi, Mouridi."

Religion is not divisive here. Churches stand next to mosques. Muslim-Christian marriages are common. The first post-colonial president, Leopold Senghor (1960-80), was a Christian. An acclaimed poet, he remains an icon for Muslims as well.

"He taught us that before we were Christian or Muslim, we were Negroes," says Boucounta Diallo, a noted lawyer, who served as Senghor's aide. "We have African and Christian and Muslim identities. And our faith, Islam or Christianity, is a moderating force."

During the Danish cartoon crisis, there was no rioting, though the people were no less offended.
"When a Muslim is hurt anywhere, I am hurt as well but it doesn't mean I have to react the way he does," Atou Diagne, a senior Mouridi executive in Touba, told me.

What's the secret of Senegalese serenity?
"You have to draw your own conclusions."

Not all moderation is spiritual. The government tends to be authoritarian and people know their limits.

The point about the Senegalese way is not whether it is right or wrong but that it is a testimonial to the diversity of Muslims.

[picture: Gazelles "dama mhorr" from the Guembeul Wildlife Park.
Photo: Laurent Gerrer, Senegal Tourist Office http://www.tourisme-senegal.com/index.html]


Qawwali at the Shrine

PTI - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Sunday, July 22, 2007

The 795th annual Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti virtually concluded Sunday, July 22, with thousands of devouts witnessing the performing of the Chatti ka Rasma here.

"With today's rituals nearly 90 per cent of the Urs is considered over," said Qutubuddin Saki, a khadim at the shrine. "Most of the devouts have already started returning," he said.

The Urs that began on July 16 will finally conclude on Wednesday July 25 [today] with the performing of the Bade Kul ki Rasma when the whole shrine would be cleaned and fragrant waters sprinkled.

A chadar on behalf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was offered today. Nearly 2.5 lakh [250'000] devouts participated in the Urs.

Every night, qawwali mehfils were also organised at the shrine premises.

[picture: The dargah of Khwaja Mo'inuddin Chishti, Ajmer.
Photo from The Chishti Website http://www.chishti.ru/index.html]

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Within the Borders of İstanbul

By Zeki Gülen - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Friday, July 20, 2007

İstanbul has been named European Capital of Culture for 2010. When we talk about culture and cultural activities in İstanbul, we consistently see one name again and again: Kültür A.Ş.

The company, which translates into English as the Culture Commercial Corporation, undertakes cultural activities and projects within the borders of İstanbul.

The numerous tasks it undertakes are appreciated of Turkey's cultural capital's residents. Kültür A.Ş. General Director Nevzat Bayhan, an author and a lover of İstanbul, talked about their activities and the plans of the company in an interview with Today's Zaman.

Kültür A.Ş. is one of 22 corporations of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It was established in 1989 to carry out the municipality's cultural policies. It has been consistently growing since its beginning and its growth is accelerating.

It also has a bookstore specializing in İstanbul, where those interested can lay their hands on myriad books about the city. From this point of view, the bookstore is unique in Turkey and even in the world, Mr. Bayhan claims.

Kültür A.Ş is also a prolific publisher. It publishes books about İstanbul and İstanbul's cultural heritage. Among these are "The Women's Heritage of the East" (Doğunun Kadın Mirası), "Foreign Palaces in İstanbul" (İstanbul'da Yabancı Saraylar) and "Photographs of İstanbul from the Archives of Sultan Abdülhamid II" (2. Abdülhamit Han Arşivinden İstanbul Fotoğrafları).

(...)

Mr. Bayhan also mentioned a periodical that Kültür A.Ş. Publishes: "1453." He explains why they chose the publication's headline as the year that the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople.

"We believe that the city's diversified life started in 1453. The believers of the three monotheistic religions came together to live in peace and harmony. However these days you cannot see a single place in the world where these people live together in peace. So we named it 1453."

Bayhan also commented on UNESCO's decision to label 2007 as the Year of Mevlana. But first he apologized to the people of Konya: "[Mevlana Jelaluddin] Rumi was born in Belh and lived in Konya. However, Rumi's philosophy and thoughts developed and lived in İstanbul, which was the capital of the Ottoman state. Therefore, we had to organize many activities to introduce him to the world in this year".

"We organized many different activities and our activities are still ongoing. We organized events about Rumi in Taksim Square, Bakırköy Square and the Harbiye Open-air Theater. Those activities will continue until Dec. 17".

[picture: Kültür A.Ş. General Director Nevzat Bayhan poses for a photograph next to a replica of the Haydarpaşa Train Station at Miniatürk. Miniatürk is a park that boasts miniature replicas of historical buildings in Turkey, operated by Kültür A.Ş.]

Monday, July 23, 2007

Introducing Rumi: from Story-telling to Postcards Making

MNA -Mehr News - Tehran, Iran

Friday, July 20, 2007

The Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) plans to set up several camps for more than 600 young adults in commemoration of the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi from July 21 until August 18.

Five separate groups of young people from different provinces, including active members of IIDCYA’s libraries, winners of book-reading competitions and junior writers will be sent to Delgosha Camp in Chalus (a city in north Iran).

The various programs which will be organized include introducing Rumi in story-telling sessions, literary workshops on poetry, reciting stories from the Masnavi, reviewing books on the theme of Masnavi’s stories and making postcards on the topic of the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi.

IIDCYA will either publish the participants’ artistic and literary works in the form of books or display them in an exhibition in the near future.
[picture: an IIDCYA' Children's publication, from: http://tinyurl.com/24ln35 ]

Sunday, July 22, 2007

We Should Start with Dialogue

By Akbar Ahmed - The Washington Post - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Rajab 8, 1428 / Sunday, July 22, 2007

What went wrong: Bush Still Doesn't Get It

Here's a bit of modern-day heresy: President Bush actually has some rather sound instincts about the Muslim world. He has visited mosques more often than any of his predecessors, and he frequently talks of winning Muslim hearts and minds. So why are those hearts and minds so estranged today? What went wrong?

The problem is that Bush has relied on ill-informed advisers and out-of-touch experts. By substituting their false expertise for his own sensible intuitions, he has failed to understand the Muslim world -- which means he has failed to understand the arena in which the first post-9/11 presidency will be judged. Instead of seriously explaining Muslim societies that are profoundly split in complex ways, Bush's aides have offered a fatally flawed stereotype of Islam as monolithic and violent.

These missteps have helped squander the potential goodwill of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- countries that pose major threats to U.S. security, and countries that once saw themselves as U.S. friends. (When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, I was the administrator in charge of south Waziristan, the lawless border region of Pakistan where Osama bin Laden is now said to be hiding, and I saw how appreciative Muslims were of U.S. support.) Today, rather than extending his hand to the people of Pakistan, Bush is marching in lockstep with the country's fading dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is mockingly referred to as "Busharraf."

Errors like this are tragic -- and avoidable. Galvanized by the need to help Americans better comprehend the Muslim world, I traveled last year to the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, accompanied by a group of American researchers. We conducted interviews; we met with presidents, prime ministers, sheiks and students; we visited mosques, madrassas and universities. During our travels, we found something far more subtle than the Bush administration's caricature.

Americans often hear of a faith neatly split between "moderates" and "extremists." In fact, we discovered three broad categories of Muslim responses to the modern world: the mystics, the modernists and the literalists.

The mystics are the most tolerant and the least political, defined by a universalist worldview that embraces difference rather than resisting it. Muslims in this group look to sages such as the great Sufi poet Rumi for inspiration. "I go to a synagogue, church and a mosque, and I see the same spirit and the same altar," Rumi once said. You'll find today's mystics in such places as Iran, Morocco and Turkey.

Then there's the modernist position, one taken by Muslims who seek to adapt to Western modernity, synthesize it with their faith traditions and live in dialogue with it. Some of the most prominent Muslim thinkers in recent times have belonged to this school, such as Muhammad Abduh, the liberal Egyptian religious scholar who led a drive in the late 19th century to shake the dust off Islamic institutions and dogmas that he believed were lagging behind the times.

Some of the most important Muslim politicians, such as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the staunchly secularist founder of modern Turkey, have felt similar impatience with the faith's old ways.

You'll still find plenty of modernists in Turkey today, as well as such countries as Jordan and Malaysia. In fact, a few decades ago it seemed that these forward-looking interpretations would become the dominant expression of Islam, and reform-minded Muslim countries seemed poised to join the community of nations.

For me, the quintessential modernist was Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. The urbane, sophisticated Jinnah believed ardently in women's rights and minority rights, and in 1947, he almost single-handedly created what was then the largest Muslim nation on Earth. For Pakistanis, he is George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson rolled into one. He founded a new country without compromising his principles or breaking the law, rejected hostage-takings, hijackings and assassinations, and he idolized Abraham Lincoln.

Jinnah is a far cry from our third category, the literalists. This group also arose in the 19th century, but it draws its ethos, attitudes and rhetoric from one central perception: that Islam is under attack. It sees Western ideas such as liberalism, women's rights and democracy as threats, not opportunities.

In response to the incursions into the Muslim world of the great Western empires, this group sought to draw firm boundaries around Islam and prevent it from being infected by alien influences. The literalist worldview has inspired a range of Muslim activists, from the Taliban to mainstream political parties such as South Asia's Jamaat-i-Islami, which participate in elections while producing influential tracts on Islam. While this entire school's theology is profoundly traditional, only a tiny minority of the group advocates terrorism.

The vast majority of Muslim literalists simply want to live according to what they see as the best traditions of their faith.

But you're more likely to see media images of bearded young men wearing skullcaps and yelling "God is great" and "Death to the Great Satan" than you are to see scholars at work. The angry activists are now on the ascendancy, according to our study. The reasons for their rise are complex: the incompetence and corruption of modernist Muslim leaders from Egypt to Pakistan to Southeast Asia; the widening gap between a crooked elite and the rest of the population; the absence of decent schools, economic opportunities and social welfare programs; and the failure of modernist leaders to douse burning regional conflicts such as Chechnya, Kashmir and Palestine.

The U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan poured gallons of fuel on a worldwide fire. Bush's wars gave the literalists support for their claim that Islam is under siege; the crude Muslim-bashing of some of Bush's supporters helps the literalists argue that Islam is also being attacked by the Western media, which many Muslims believe represents the thinking of the West's citizenry.

In this context, parodies of the prophet Muhammad or the cloddish Republican talking point branding Muslims as "Islamofascists" helped convince wavering Muslims that their faith was truly a target.

Remember Jerry Falwell's post-9/11 abuse of the Prophet, in which the late televangelist dismissed as a "terrorist" the man whom Muslims named as their foremost role model in our questionnaires? Such slurs helped boost Pakistani religious parties in the 2002 elections in Northwest Frontier Province, where the clerics had never before won more than a few seats. Overnight, the Taliban found a friendly base.

Americans who think that all Muslims hate the United States may be surprised to hear that many Muslims believe they have it precisely backward. Our questionnaires showed that Muslims worldwide viewed Islamophobia in the West as the No. 1 threat they faced. Many Muslims told us that the Western media depict them as terrorists or likens them to Nazis.

Such widespread perceptions let literalist clerics argue that Islam must defend itself against a rapacious West -- something the mystics and modernists were incapable of doing.

Today, all these factors have coalesced to convince ordinary Muslims -- from Somalia to Indonesia -- that Islam is indeed threatened and that the United States is leading the charge. As a Muslim, I grieve the fact that modernist leaders such as Jinnah have become irrelevant. And as someone living in the United States, I fear that the danger of another terrorist strike is as high as ever.

Our study did suggest ways to make progress. With a wiser strategy and a mighty reduction of hubris, the United States could still improve its relations with the Muslim world. Americans need to accept that the Muslim literalists are here to stay, that their position is deeply felt and that it deserves to be engaged with. U.S. policymakers need to keep an eye on the mystics and modernists, too; they are not the problem, but continued attacks on Islam will push many of them into supporting the literalists.

To change the tenor of Washington's conversations with the Muslim world, symbolic gestures are important, such as Bush's visits to American mosques. But we need substantive action, too. For one thing, U.S. diplomats should make an effort to come out from their embassy fortresses and meet with cultural and religious leaders. That simple step would do much to make friends for America.

Beyond that, Washington's interaction with Muslim nations needs to be better thought out. We need to marginalize the violent fringe and build deeper ties with mainstream literalists who are suspicious of the West but shun violence. Take U.S. aid to Pakistan, which has added up to about $10 billon since 9/11. Much of this goes toward buying gunships and tanks, which ordinary Pakistanis say are used against them. In other words, U.S. aid is being used in ways that boost anti-Americanism -- hardly a smart policy.

Instead, the United States should stipulate that half of its aid go to building up Pakistan's tattered educational structures, with a special focus on madrassas that eschew violence. Overnight, hearts and minds would begin to change; Muslims hold education especially dear, and if governments won't provide it, parents will be tempted to go to whomever will.

Bush does not have much time left, but he can still avert disaster. Above all, we should start with dialogue. We might wind up with friendship.

About the Author: Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun chairman of Islamic studies at American University and the author, most recently, of "Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization."

[picture: A female Iranian, wearing the Islamic Chador, passes by a painting of a revolver in front of the former US embassy in Teheran. Image by © Abedin Taherkenareh/epa/Corbis]

Journeys With My Grandpa

By Jon Fear - The Record - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, July 21, 2007

Journeys with my Grandpa by Inci Kuzucuoglu

Inci Kuzucuoglu of Kitchener (Ontario) is the author of three books in the Turkish language. This is her first in English.

It presents Sufi stories (Sufism is a tradition of beliefs within Islam) that were written or told by her husband's great-great-grandfather.

Presented in the form of letters to young people, the stories offer advice on life.

Inci Kuzucuoglu
Journeys with my Grandpa
Ilbeyi Publications
softcover, 108 pages, $14.95

To order this book, write by e-mail to mailto:kuzucuoglu@hotmail.com or by post to Ilbeyi Publications, 510 Pioneer Dr., Kitchener, N2P 1N5.

Konya Sufis Are Coming Home

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Saturday, July 21, 2007

The works of Konya Sufis set to return to their homeland

The works of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, Sadreddin Konevi and Ibn Arabi, all citizens of Konya at one time or another in centuries gone by, have long resided in various countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Azer-baijan, France and Iran, but not for much longer.

Various tomes and commentaries on their writings are finally coming home to roost in a new, purpose-built department at the Konya Manuscripts Library.

The director of the library, Bekir Şahin, announced they had launched a joint project with the Mevlana Research Center of Seljuk University to bring together the works of Mevlana, Sadreddin Konevi and Ibn Arabi, all of which occupy an invaluable place in Turco-Islamic culture and with inextricable ties to Konya.

Şahin also mentioned that they were planning another section in the library dedicated to Nasreddin Hodja.

They have managed to trace and bring much of the renowned Sufi manuscripts to Konya already, but there is still plenty to do.

"We have been working for over a year. We worked hard as this year is the [UNESCO designated] Year of Rumi," Şahin recalled, adding: "We are planning to gather all that was written on their ideas and these men of love. Up till now, we have been focusing our efforts on locating their work.
Our efforts to bring them to Konya continue. This will not be a limited process: We will continue to bring all such works to Konya in the coming years."

He highlighted that the oldest known copy of Mevlana's masterpiece, "Mesnevi," was already being displayed in the manuscripts library.

"We found the older copies particularly in Azerbaijan and Dubai. We brought in one of Konevi's works, a diary, from the Yusufağa Manuscripts Library, also in Konya. We have been given serious support by the Sadreddin Konevi Research Center, founded by the Meram Municipality"

"We have currently found 73 manuscripts related to Nasreddin Hodja. We also found that France is an important source for manuscripts. We have thus formed an important resource on Nasreddin Hodja," he said.

[picture: Konya Books from http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/archive.html]

Saturday, July 21, 2007

A Living Example

Times of India - India
Friday, July 20, 2007

Ajmer: Nearly 2.5 lakh [250'000] Muslims offered Friday prayers at the annual Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti here on Friday with two Union ministers offering chadar on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Union ministers Prithviraj Chauhan and N N Meena offered the chadar at the dargah.

A chadar sent by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will be offered at the tomb on Saturday.

As many as 462 Pakistanis attended the prayers conducted by Shahar Kaji Hafij Tauseef.


In his message sent on the occasion, Manmohan Singh said Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti spread the message of love, affection, brotherhood and integrity among all humans.

The visit to the dargah by people of all religions is a living example of acceptance of the Khwaja's preachings. Singh also called upon people of the country to take inspirations from the life and work of the Khwaja.

The 795th edition of the Urs that began on Monday, July 16 will end on Sunday, July 22.

The dargah premises was totally packed with devouts by 11 am for the afternoon prayers.

[picture: Entrance to the cave wherein Khwaja Mo'inuddin Chishti performed his retreat.
Photo from: The Chishti Website http://www.chishti.ru/index.html]

Friday, July 20, 2007

Rare Bird Flies Free

By Peyman Nasehpour - Persian Mirror - U.S.A.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

The outstanding master of daf and Sufi music, Haj Khalifeh Mirza Agha Ghosi passed away on July 17, 2007, as Iranian news agencies reported.

Ostad Mirza Agha Ghosi was born in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province of Iran, 1928. He learned the art of daf playing and Sufi vocal music during his teenage from his father the late Haji Ghosi and later Darvish Karim.

He was appointed 'Khalifeh' (spritual leader) by Sheikh Abdolkarim Kasnazani of Kirkuk, a city in Kurdistan of Iraq. He was one of the oldest daf players of Iran and he had a very nice vocals. He performed in many festivals in Iran, France, Colombia, Turkey, Panama, Peru and Ecuador.

In the famous Avignon Festival he was entitled to 'Rare Bird'.

[visit: http://www.rhythmweb.com/peyman/
for more on Persian and Azerbaijiani percussion music]

Nostalgia for Istanbul

By Kathy Hamilton - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Thursday, July 19, 2007

One of the best places for an escape from the heat of the day, or the overexertion from shopping in the Grand Bazaar, is Çorlulu Alipaşa Medresesi, built between 1707 and 1708, under the auspices of the grand vizier to Ahmet III, Ali Paşa of Çorlu.

Originally built as a medrese, or theological school, it also served as a Qadiri Sufi tekke, or dervish lodge. When all the Sufi orders were closed after the beginning of the republic, this tekke’s doors closed too.

The cells that had once housed religious students and dervishes were rented out to shoe makers.

During the 1960s and early 1970s it was converted into student dormitories. In the mid-1970s its current incarnation began as it became a local center for carpet sellers and restorers.

The enchanting nargile garden, entered through an archway from the tram street, is one of the main reasons people stop here. Wisps of the softly scented tobaccos waft overhead and fill the air with their aromas. This shady garden is the ideal site for unwinding over a glass of tea or coffee. Water pipes are not smoked to relieve tension, but instead, are a way to linger with friends old and new and pass the time.

There is no hurry here -- everyone is welcome to stay for as long as they like, perhaps striking up conversations and friendships with their neighbors at the next table who also appreciate the art of relaxation.

The second side of the medrese is often overlooked by tourists, but it draws carpet dealers, textile collectors and museum curators from around the world. While life in the first courtyard revolves around the leisurely pace of the tea garden, this part of the complex is centered on carpets and kilims, flat woven rugs. The restorers in this area are known worldwide for their exacting work.

In nice weather you can find them huddled over carpets spread out in the courtyard next to the small mosque. If you’re lucky, you may even find Sufi story teller, amateur historian, actor and renowned carpet expert Abdullah Gündoğdu working in his shop or tending the flower garden.

This is an ideal place to look at carpets in a hassle-free environment and ask questions. In contrast to the bazaar and Sultanahmet carpet stores with salesmen trying to lure in customers, here the atmosphere is so easygoing that it sometimes seems that the shopkeepers are more intent on visiting and sipping tea than concentrating on making sales to the few tourists who happen to wander through.

This famous setting is well worth the visit. The ambiance evokes a sense of nostalgia for İstanbul as it was before the tour busses and millions of residents arrived to quicken the pace of everyday life. Here is a place to withdraw from sensory overload and stress while calmly reflecting on events of the day and letting your biggest worry be which flavor of tobacco and what type of tea you will have next.

The easiest way to get to Çorlulu Alipaşa Medresesi is by tram. The archways leading to the courtyards face Yeniçeriler Caddesi, the tramway street. From the Çemberlitaş stop, walk towards to Grand Bazaar. The entrance will be on the right side. From the Beyazıt tram stop, walk past the entrance to the bazaar and the medrese will be on the left. The nargile garden is open daily from mid-morning until past midnight.

[Picture: The nargile garden has long been known as a favorite hang out for university professors, students and tourists.]

Seeking Restoration

UNI - Indlaw.com - New Delhi, India
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Gujarat High Court has issued notices to state government and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by All Gujarat Minorities Association seeking restoration of dargah of Sufi Vali Gujarati here.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Y R Meena and Justice Akil Kureshi, issued notices to the state and AMC, which are returnable by August 13.

A PIL was filed by All Gujarat Minorities Association, through its secretary Pathan Firozkhan Ahmedkhan, seeking restoration of dargah.

Advocate Dr Mukul Sinha, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the riotous mob, supported by the ruling party, had gone on rampage and demolished the dargah on February 28, 2002. Adv Sinha submitted that after demolishing the dargah, the mob had constructed a make-shift mandir 'Hulladiya Godhariya Hanuman', which was later removed by the AMC.

According to petitioner, Vali Gujarati, as he was popularly known, was a renowned Sufi Saint; therefore, it is essential to protect and preserve the historical heritage and culture of the country.

The petitioner stated that they had made several attempts in the past for restoration of the shrine and had approached the government, AMC and even the NHRC, but none came forward to help them in restoration of the dargah.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Koinna at Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival

By Ershad Kamol - The Daily Star - Dhaka, Bangladesh

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

As part of the ongoing Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival '07, arranged by Theatre Troupe Mahakal Natyasampradaya to mark its 24th anniversary, Prachyanat* will stage Koinna today [July 18th] at the Experimental Stage.

Koinna, a play by Murad Khan, brings to light a debate between Shariah and Marfat.

Inhabitants of a make-believe village, Kalaruka, believe that the spirit 'Koinna Pir' has possessed a widower, Naior. The villagers are also convinced that Bahurupi, the inseparable companion of Koinna Pir, lives in the pond near Naior's house.

Kalaruka residents are followers of Marfat (a branch of Sufism) and consider Naior as their saviour. On the other hand, Shahebzada and his followers, who are the followers of Shariah, strongly oppose the existence of Koinna Pir.

The play ends with a conflict between the two rival groups.

Azad Abul Kalam is the director of the play. M. Shaiful Islam is the set and light designer.

---

On the inaugural ceremony [July 14th] of the Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival '07, arranged by Mahakal Natyasampradaya to celebrate its 24th anniversary, discussants urged for a change in the contemporary theatre scenario of Bangladesh.

Eminent playwright-litterateur Syed Shamsul Haque was the chief guest at the inaugural session, which was held yesterday at the Experimental Theatre Stage. Other renowned theatre personalities speaking at the programme were Ataur Rahman, Mamunur Rashid, Nasiruddin Yousuff, Tariq Anam Khan and Golam Kuddus.

The session was presided over by MA Azad, president of Mahakal Natyasampradaya. Meer Zahid Hassan, convenor of the festival committee delivered the welcome speech.

Reviewing the current theatre scenario of the country theatre director-actor-playwright Tariq Anam said, "It's true that some new theatre venues have been operating in the country, but how many quality productions we are offering and how many people are watching those plays? Unless the participation of the younger generation as theatre activists as well as audience is ensured we can't expect a boom in theatre."

Other cultural programmes held on the opening ceremony were a staging of a few scenes from Shikhondikatha by the actors of Mahakal and presentation of a srutinataok (recitation of a theatre performance) titled Hazar Churashir Maa, by the artistes of Katha Abritti Charcha Kendra.

Moreover, Chanu Gayener Dal from Manikganj performed Kalu Gazir Pala, an indigenous performing art form based production. In the evening Mahakal Natyasampradaya staged Shikhondikatha, written by Anon Zaman and directed by Haroonur Rashid. Shikhondikatha features the sufferings and struggles of the transgendered individuals.

The 11-day theatre festival continues till July 25 with a gap of two days. Other plays included in the festival are Bhager Manush, Shamayer Proyojoney, Koinna, Projapoti, Bou Bashonti, Rupoboti, Jalodash, Meraj Fakirer Maa, Nakshi Kanthar Math and Raarang.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/07/14/d707141401125.htm

*Prachyanat School of Acting and Design, an offshoot of the young theatre group Prachyanat.

[picture: Actors of Prachyanat in Koinna ]

Conquerors of the Heart

[From the French language press]:

Le processus d’islamisation a été entamé par les commerçants et les juristes. Mais force est de reconnaître que c’est avec l’Islam confrérique que la religion musulmane a conquis les cœurs des populations de l’Afrique subsaharienne.

Le Soleil, Sénégal - mercredi 18 juillet 2007 - par Babacar Bachir Sane

The process of Islamization was started by the tradesmen and the lawyers. But force is to recognize that it is with the Islam of Brotherhoods that the religion of Islam conquered the hearts of the populations of sub-Saharan Africa.

Introducing “Tijaniya, cement of the co-operation between Senegal and Morocco” (during the "week of Senegal" in Morocco), the Moroccan scholar Jellali el-Adnani, said that the practice of Sufism by the sub-Saharan communities, in particular by the Wolof community of Senegal made it possible to tie very strong relations between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Many pilgrims in departure or on return from Mecca do visit the tomb of the founder of the tariqa [Tijaniya] in Fez. For Jellali El Adnani, the relations between Sénégal and Morocco should not stop at the stage of Brotherhoods, they should open more, the more so as the number of affiliated in Senegal is the largest in th Islamic world.

[picture from http://www.fao.org/ ]

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Is it Taqwa or Loneliness?

By Abdul Manan - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Shrines, as opposed to popular belief, still seem to be greatly visited by Lahoris, as indicated by the Auqaf Department officials that more than three million people visit shrines every month.

Many moderate-religious scholars and psychiatrists of Lahore seem to think that the activity is aimed to escape from reality.

Devotees, on the other hand, declared it a means to purify, achieve mental satisfaction that arrives from the feeling of fulfilling religious duties and a platform to thank God.

There are 53 shrines and tombs of Sufi Saints in Lahore that fall under the Auqaf Department. The most visited shrine was of Syed Abul Hassan Ali (Data Gunj Baksh) with an average of 1.5 million people every month, said Dr Tahir Raza, director of religious affairs at the Auqaf Department. Other popularly visited shrines are of Baba Shah Jamal, Mian Mir, Bibian Pakdaman, Madhu Lal, Pir Makki, Shahabuddin Punj Pir, Shah Chiragh, Shah Inayat Qadri, Phiro Shaheed, Bagh Ali Shah, Pir Bhola, Syed Musa, Shah Gada, Miran Badsha, Pir Hassan Shah Wali, Abdullah Shah Bukhari, Syed Mahmood Shah and Ghore Shah Saeen.

Islamic scholar and member of Council of Islamic Ideology and executive director of Al Maward Institute in Lahore Allama Javaid Ahmad Ghamidi said the material-oriented lifestyle of the West had penetrated even in the bedrooms of the East because of the media.

He said as a result, people wanted an escape from their superficial lives to explore their spiritual selves; therefore, they sought refuge in mysticism.

He said, “Sufi Saints aimed to spread the message of love, peace, building of interfaith harmony and brotherhood, and to end hatred to enhance humanity, therefore, we should follow the examples set by them.”

Dr Saad Malik, head of the Psychiatry Department of Allama Iqbal Medical University and the Jinnah Hospital, contradicted the spiritual reasoning behind visiting shrines.

He said that back in the day, families were more closely knit. He said if an issue was encountered, the entire clan would sit together to resolve it, hence each family member had the support of the rest of the family.

He said nowadays, the tables had turned with a greater degree of individuality and independence of each family member. He said the change was not a negative one, but on the flip side, people had become more insecure, as every man was for himself. He added that it was the insecurity and the feeling of loneliness that drove people to shrines.

He said it was a psychological issue rather than a spiritual one.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Tabriz Opens for Rumi
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MNA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Monday, July 30

The University of Tabriz is to hold a two-day international congress to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi. It will take place on October 31 and November 1.

Iranian and foreign researchers and experts on Rumi are scheduled to participate in the event, the secretary of the congress told the Persian service of IRNA on Monday.

Khalil Hadidi stated that scholars from countries including France, Germany, India, China, Malaysia, Turkey, the United States, and Canada, will be attending the congress. Discussions and reviews will be held focusing on the life and characteristics of Rumi, his mysticism, philosophy, language and literature and his followers and opponents.

“Those who are interested in attending the event should send synopses of their discourses to the secretariat of the congress at the Persian and Foreign Language Department of the University of Tabriz before September 6,” Hadidi added.

The congress is cosponsored by the Society for Wisdom and Philosophy and the University of Tabriz.

UNESCO has designated 2007 "The Year of Rumi" to mark the 800th birth anniversary of this illustrious philosopher and mystical poet.

[picture: Autmn in Tabriz' University http://www2.tabrizu.ac.ir/show.asp?id=65]
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From East to West: a Dance for Peace
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[From the Italian language press]:

E' iniziata il 28 luglio e proseguirà fino al 5 agosto la quinta edizione della manifestazione "Da Oriente a Occidente: una danza per la pace" organizzata dall'Associazione Culturale Maeva e dal Centro Asani di Porto d'Ascoli.

Sambenedetto Oggi, Italy - mercoledì 25 luglio 2007 - di Cinzia Rosati

The fifth edition of the manifestation “From East to West: a dance for peace" began on July the 28th and will continue til August the 5th; it is organized by the Cultural Association Maeva and the Center Asani of Porto d'Ascoli (Ancona).

Workshops of dance will be held, during the days of the event, by the two Egyptian dance' masters Ashraf Hassan and Wael Mansour, introducing to various styles of Oriental dances, like Saaidi, Andalusian and Tannoura (the dance of the Egyptian sufis).

Ms. Najma Asani, founder of the Asani Center of Porto d'Ascoli, says that the culture of Oriental dance holds a place in its own right among the performing arts in most European countries, but it is still widely misunderstood in Italy.

[picture: U.S. Ambassador in Cairo, Mr Francis J. Ricciardone, attended evening moulid festivities on November 16 in Tanta. The famous moulid of Al-Sayyad Al-Badawi is attended by millions annually. Pictured here, the Ambassador listens to Sheikh Hassan Al-Shanawi, the Head of Egypt's Sufi order. Also pictured (left to right) are: Dr. Mahmoud Abuzaid, Minister of Irrigation; Sheikh Al-Shanawi; Dr. Ali Saman, Head of Al-Azhar's Committee on Interfaith Dialogue; and Gharbiya Governor Al-Dakrouri; cairo.usembassy.gov/ambassador/tr111605.htm]
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Monday, July 30, 2007

Ibn Khaldoun
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[From the French language press]:

La revue scientifique de l'université [tunisienne] Ezzitouna, Al-Mishkat, a récemment publié son 4e numéro, consacré à Ibn Khaldoun.

On y trouve des articles, essentiellement en langue arabe, mais aussi quelques-uns en langue française.

Il s'agit d'un numéro spécial, consacré au sixième centenaire de la mort [Cairo, 1406 CE] du grand savant du XIVe siècle.

All Africa/La Presse - Tunis, Tunisia - vendredi 27 juillet, 2007 - par R. S.

The scientific review of the [Tunisian] Ezzitouna university, Al-Mishkat, published recently its 4th number, devoted to Ibn Khaldoun.

One finds there articles, primarily in the Arab language, but also some in the French language.

It is a special number, devoted to the sixth centenary of the death of the great scientist of the 14th century.

The review of Ezzitouna approaches primarily the theoretical part of the work of Ibn Khaldoun, i.e. Muqaddima, and this, under the angle of its bond with the great questions of theology and jurisprudence.

The Arabic language' part, which is some 420 pages long , presents 17 articles which cover aspects as varied as the Khaldounian approach of the bases of jurisprudence and Maliki school; the scientist's approach to the Arab language; his views of the relation between religion and assabiyya [group' consciousness]; and Ibn Khaldoun on Sufism.

[About Ibn Khaldoun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun
http://www.eicds.org/
http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ei2/KHALDUN.htm]

[About 'assabiyya: http://proteus.brown.edu/arabiaandarabs/1821]

[picture: statue of Ibn Khaldoun in Tunis, Tunisia, avenue Habib Bourguiba;
source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldoun]

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Sunday, July 29, 2007

"Sufism Has Always Been More Feminine"
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By Boyd Tonkin - The Independent - London, U.K.

Friday, July 27, 2007

A writer who weds the modern and the mystic, Elif Shafak was born in France to a Turkish diplomatic family in 1971, and as a child lived in Spain, Jordan and Germany before studying in Ankara.

She has taught Ottoman history and culture at Istanbul Bilgi University and, from 2002, at American universities in Boston, Michigan and Tucson, Arizona.

A prolific columnist and fiction writer, she has published six novels: The Flea Palace (shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) and The Gaze are available in the UK from Marion Boyars. Her novel The Bastard of Istanbul provoked a court case in 2006 that led to her acquittal on a charge of "insulting Turkishness".

Shafak, whose daughter Shehrazad Zelda was born at the time of her trial, now lives in Istanbul.
After years of interviewing ego-driven writers, one truth looms larger all the time for me. Authors who have precious little to say or to fear always make the biggest fuss about their precious work and their sacred little selves.

Then there is the modest minority in whom talent, courage and self-knowledge converge; who fight high-stakes battles against dangerous enemies, but never succumb to vanity, bitterness or dogmatism.

Quietly eloquent at breakfast-time in her Bloomsbury hotel, the Turkish novelist, journalist and academic Elif Shafak explains how the Sufi strand of Islam that she loves helps to ground her in internal as well as external realities.

"It's an endless chain," she explains. "I'm both observing the outside world, and observing myself. And this is something that perhaps I derive from Sufism. Because I think the human being is a microcosm: all the conflicts present outside are also present inside him."
Compared to the trivial spats that occupy so many writers in the West, Shafak has had to endure enough external conflict over the past year to extinguish many lesser lights. In September 2006, she joined the scores of Turkish authors and intellectuals (notably, Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) who have faced trial for the crime of "insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the republic's penal code.

Inevitably, the charges – pushed through by a cabal of hard-line nationalist lawyers – stemmed from a fictional discussion of the mass deportations and deaths of Armenians in 1915, as the Ottoman empire crumbled, at one point in her new novel The Bastard of Istanbul (published by Viking, £16.99).
The hearing took place just as her first child, a daughter named Shehrazad Zelda, was born. Shafak was rapidly acquitted; a verdict welcomed at the time by Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (re-elected last Sunday).

In court in Istanbul, she faced a Satanic Verses-style charade, with the words of one (Armenian) character in a novel of cultural and emotional polyphony plucked from their context and treated as a manifesto. With one, crucial difference from Salman Rushdie's plight: the judicial harassment of authors in Turkey comes not from Islamist forces but secular chauvinists.
Although she has had to walk through fire, Shafak carries herself with an uncanny air of calm ("cool" would be misleading; she has warmth as well as poise).

Much of her mischievous fiction plays with the treachery of appearances, the mutability of identities. What you see is, consistently, not what you get. Take the headscarf, now worn by around 60 per cent of Turkish women. Shafak explores its multiple meanings, with only some of them linked in any way to political Islam.

The Bastard of Istanbul, with the matriarchal clan of the Kazancis at his heart, dramatises the kind of Turkish family where "Sometimes the mother's covered and the daughter isn't; one elder sister is a leftist; another is very superstitious. We are very much mixed, and I think there's nothing bad about it."

As she puts it, "Islam is not a monolith. It's not a static thing at all. And neither is the issue of the headscarf."
Shafak herself could baffle stereotypes as gleefully as her characters often do. Born in Strasbourg, to a family of diplomats, she had a father who left home early on and a feminist mother (a foreign-ministry official in her own right) who brought her up in Spain, Jordan and Germany. She has taught in three American states and travelled all over the world. The author of six exuberantly digressive novels packed to bursting with jokes, tales and ideas ("carnivalesque", she calls them), she first wrote The Bastard of Istanbul and its predecessor not in Turkish but in English.

"If it's sadness I'm dealing with," she says, "I prefer Turkish; for humour, I prefer English."

Now here she sits in a Bloomsbury hotel lounge, peppering her conversation with references to Johnny Cash or Walter Benjamin. An archetype of the secular, Westernised Turkish woman? Not at all: her involvement with the path of Sufism began as an intellectual quest, but deepened.

"Only years later did I realise that perhaps this was more than intellectual curiosity, that it was also an emotional bond. Sufism has always been more open to women, and it's always been more feminine."
(...)
For Shafak, art must struggle to safeguard its space of free enquiry from the dead hand of doctrine: "Because the world we live in is so polarised and politicised, many people are not willing to understand that art and literature has an autonomous zone of existence... I'm not saying there is no dialectic between art and politics – there is, indeed – but art cannot be under the shadow of politics."

"Art has the capacity constantly to deconstruct its own truths... That's again why I think there's a link between Sufism and literature. For me, both of them are about transcending the self, the boundaries given by birth."

"I think it's perfectly OK to be multi-lingual, multi-cultural, even multi-faith," she adds when we talk of her current fascination with the "labyrinth" of the English language. "In a world that's always asking us to make a choice once and for all, we should say, 'No: I'm not going to make that choice. I'm going to stay plural'."
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Saturday, July 28, 2007

"Out Beyond Ideas of Wrongdoing and Right-doing there Is a Field"
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By Ted Merwin - The Washington Post - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

When the Pakistani scholar Akbar Ahmed arrived at American University in August 2001 as the new Ibn Khaldun chairman of Islamic Studies, he thought he knew what work lay ahead: Teach classes, write books and share his deep knowledge of Islamic religion and culture.

A month later, as the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were in ashes and flames, Ahmed quickly realized he had an urgent and timely mission: bridge the yawning chasm between the West and the Muslim world.
Ahmed, 64, whom the BBC has dubbed "probably the world's best-known scholar on contemporary Islam," tirelessly promotes interfaith relations through his scholarship (he has 30 books to his credit); his television appearances on CNN, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "Nightline" and elsewhere; and his public dialogues with Judea Pearl, father of slain Jewish reporter Daniel Pearl.

Now Ahmed has found a new forum in which to communicate his message. His first theatrical drama, "Noor," will receive its world premiere in a staged reading tonight [July 26th] at 6 as part of Theater J's "Voices From a Changing Middle East" series, part of this summer's Capital Fringe Festival.

Speaking by phone, Ahmed predicted that his play would help "shatter the idea of Islam as a monolith."

"Noor," directed by Shirley Serotsky, is the tale of three brothers who try desperately to rescue their sister Noor, who has been kidnapped by unidentified soldiers during Ramadan. (Noor means light in Arabic and is one of Islam's 99 names for God.)

The play's setting is unnamed; in an introductory note, the playwright says it could be Baghdad, Cairo, Karachi or Kabul.

Each brother represents a different ideological position in the contemporary Islamic world. The eldest, Abdullah, is a Sufi mystic whose sheik counsels him to rely on prayer. The second brother, Ali, is a lawyer who appeals for help from a government minister who turns out to be corrupt. The third, Daoud, sees no recourse except violence.

The catastrophe deepens when the mother of Noor's fiance breaks off the engagement, refusing to allow her son to marry a girl who almost certainly has been raped. The play concludes with the return of Noor (played by Ahmed's daughter, Nefees Ahmed, a senior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda).

Noor reads a poem from Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet, about two lovers meeting in a field "out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing."

The play's message is one of religious tolerance, placing it squarely in the tradition of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's 18th-century drama "Nathan the Wise," in which three major religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- are shown to have deeper commonalities than differences.

But in "Noor," the brothers exemplify the three principal methods adopted by Muslims to cope with the crisis of modern Islam -- a crisis that scholars date to the rise of industrialization in the 19th century and the concomitant spread of Western ideas about equality, democracy and women's rights.

Ahmed says his goal is to enlighten Americans about the diversity of positions within the Muslim world -- which is the overriding theme of his recently published book "Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization."

He says that what the West views as violence motivated by religious extremism is actually often motivated by mainstream Muslims' attempts to defend their honor and dignity. He also is highly critical of the American media for propagating images of Muslims as mindless and bloodthirsty.

Ahmed avers that these inflammatory media images, along with the American military presence in the Middle East, "create the perception that Islam is under attack. This makes ordinary Muslims look to those who can stand up and fight back."

So it is religion, he says, that is often used to fan the flames of hatred. Updating Karl Marx's phrase, Ahmed is fond of saying: "Religion is no longer the opiate of the masses. It is the speed of the masses."
What deepens the divide, Ahmed says, is the brain drain of Muslim scholars from the Arab world, many of whom have been killed or have fled to the West. "The scholarly vacuum," he lamented, "leaves thugs and tyrants."

Yet his play reflects how learning is revered in Muslim cultures. "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr," exclaims one of the characters in "Noor," quoting the Koran.
(...)
Staging "Noor" in a Jewish theater is itself highly symbolic -- a step toward opening up a crucial dialogue.

"You can't dramatize the Arab-Israeli conflict without dramatizing the Arab experience," Mr Ari Roth [artistic director of Theater J]says. "We need to listen to each other and hear each other's stories."

[picture: Mr Akbar Ahmed. Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post]
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Friday, July 27, 2007

We All Try To Contribute
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By Shokufeh Kavani - Persian Mirror - U.S.A.

Friday, July 27, 2007

This is the year of Mevlana and we all try to contribute our share to Mevlana Rumi, one of our greatest poets and Sufi's who became a worldwide phenamenon and lives ever happily after in people's heart all over the world.

I would like to introduce to you the book that I translated from English into Persian about Mevlana Rumi, written by Ira Friedlander by the name of 'Whirling Dervishes ' which has been published in Iran, year 2003 and has sold out.

The first time I saw the English version of the book, I was amazed by the beauty of the photos that Mrs. Ira Friedlaner, now the head of the apple graphic centre at American Cairo University, and Mr. Nazieh Oozal have taken from the Konya, Mevlana tomb and the Whirling Dervishes ceremony.

It is beautifully captured in black and white and takes the readers inside the world of these holy men. This book also narrates the last 200 years of the Mevlavieh sect and what has happened to them and their centres in Turkey and during the power of Kamal Attatork from a very good historical angle.
The book can not be found in Iran due to high demand, but the English version is available:
Ira Friedlander
The Whirling Dervishes, , Being an Account of the Sufi Order Known As the Mevlevis and Its Founder the Poet and Mystic Mevlana Jalalu'Ddin Rumi
Macmillan Publishing Company (January 1975)
ISBN-10: 002065300X
ISBN-13: 978-0020653004

Shokufeh Kavani moved to Australia in 1997 and is currently living in Sydney. She works as an operating theatre nurse but considers art her true passion. She has been nominated for the "Australian of the Year Award 2005 & 2007 " and "The Pride of the Australian Medal" by the Daily Telegraph magazine.
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Ideology of Intolerance: a Crisis of Ignorance
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By Sadia Dehlvi - Hindustan Times - India Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Yes, the Muslim world is facing oppression and injustice, but we can no longer escape the fact that we have enemies within the community.

The Glasgow attack and the Lal Masjid horror are recent examples of extremism and terror. Clearly there is a crisis of ignorance, leadership and faith.

Muslims must acknowledge that there is a radical fringe which needs to be identified and rejected. We cannot allow the pulpits of our mosques or the institutions of learning to be seized for the discourse of anger and the rhetoric of rage. It has become imperative to understand the root of militancy, which is transforming the glorious tradition of spiritual quest and scholarship in Islam to one of terror.

Prophet Mohammad said, “Beware of extremism in your religion”. This ideology of extremism stems from religious outfits like Tablighi Jamaat whose recruits are operating world over. Tablighi Jamaat was founded by Deobandi cleric Maulana Mohammad Ilyas Kandhalawi in 1920. The Jamaat-e-Islami, Ahle Hadis and Salafis share similar views.

Islam in the subcontinent is the legacy of the Sufis. Wahabism is an import from Saudia Arabia, which seeks inspiration from Ibn Wahab who died in 1786 AD. Unfortunately its followers are unaware of the political and religious activities of its founder and have become victims of the mission rhetoric: “purify and spread Islam”, which allows emotion to rule over knowledge.

The Wahabis reject the historical Islamic belief that the spiritual chains of Sufi orders (silsilas) are linkages to Prophet Mohammad. Ibn Taymiyya, a 14th century scholar, remains the primary source for Wahabi ideology who was barred from teaching and jailed several times in Damascus for issuing heretical fatwas. Taymiyya’s life was spared because he publicly repented amid 700 scholars. He slandered the Caliphs Ali and Osman, discredited Sufi scholars like Ibn Arabi and Imam Ghazali, preaching that visiting the Prophet’s shrine was sin.

Inspired by Taymiyyas forgotten teachings Abd al-Wahab of Nejd in East Arabia saw himself as a reformer and preached that Muslims who sought intercession to God through Prophet Mohammad and the Sufis are polytheists who practice shirk (innovation).

Ibn Wahab’s initial devotees were largely Bedouins and he declared those who did not believe in his teachings as unbelievers. He told them: “It is halal (permissible) to kill and plunder Muslims who make mediators of the prophet and auliyas (Sufis) with a view to attain closeness to Allah.”

The Bedouins used the verdict to justify the loot of Haj pilgrims. Ibn Wahab taught that it was sinful to build tombs over graves and said: “If I could I would demolish the Prophet’s shrine.” He did not believe that waqf foundations were Islamic and pronounced that salaries to Qazis were unlawful bribes.

Ibn Wahab burnt original Sufi manuscripts including copies of the world famous Muslim prayer manual “Dalail ul Khairaat” by the 15th century Moroccan Sufi scholar Jazuli because along with salutations and blessings to the Prophet, its narrative included an eloquent portrait of the Prophet’s shrine. His followers plundered and desecrated the tomb of the Prophet’s grandson Imam Hussain in Karbala.

Wahabi orthodoxy was a minor current in the Muslim world till promoted by the Al Saud dynasty that came to power in 1924. The house of Saud established matrimonial alliances with Ibn Wahab’s family furthering his strident teachings to justify their take-over of the holy cities and establish the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The royals ran bulldozers over the remnants of all meditation cells and the early Sufi tombs along with the adjoining mosques. The historical tombs of the Prophet’s family and his companions at Jannat ul-Maali and Jannat ul-Baqi, the sacred graveyards of Mecca and Medina were razed to the ground.

Mecca and Medina are now managed by the Wahabis and their control has robbed pilgrims of the right to express devotion in a manner of their choice. Constant patrol of the muttawas (religious police) ensures that pilgrims don’t touch the exteriors of the prophet’s shrine or offer salutations to him. At Medina turning towards the Prophet’s tomb for supplication (dua) is met with harsh reactions and pilgrims are forcibly turned around to face the direction of the Kabbah. Women are allowed in the compound but are subject to severe restrictions of time and space.

Through well-funded outreach organisations the Wahabis spread their version of Islam where listening to music, celebrating the annual birth anniversary of the Prophet (milad-e-nabi) and death anniversaries of the Sufis (Urs) are unlawful in Islam.

Be it for Muslims or non-Muslim, the Wahabi ideology is rooted in the politics of extremism and terror negating the Quranic message of peace and brotherhood. “Islam is a religion of peace,” has been reduced to a mere cliché.

Muslims have to become good communicators of that Quranic and prophetic message by reclaiming their lost intellectual heritage and reviving academic discourse on the rightful traditions of Islam.

“… and who saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of mankind.” — The Quran 5:32

[picture: Location of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Pakistan (marked with a red spot).
Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lal_Masjid]

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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Spiritual Peace: Teachings for Lovers
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By Ali Usman - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Jandiala Sher Khan, a small town on Hafizabad Road, some 14 kilometres away from Sheikhupura gets over-packed from July 23 to 25 every year when people from all over Punjab visit the town to pay tribute to one of the greatest Sufi poets of Punjab, Waris Shah.

The town is the birthplace of Shah, called by many as the saint of love and tolerance. Shah was the most prominent Punjabi poet of the 18th century.

He was born in the house of Syed Gul Sher in 1722 and died in 1798 in the same village. He got his early education in a mosque in Jandiala Sher Khan. The mosque still exists to the northwest of the tomb.

The poet completed his formal education of Dars-e-Nizami in Kasur by Molvi Ghulam Murtaza Kasuri. Bullay Shah (another great Punjabi poet) had also been a student of the same seminary. Later, for spiritual training, Waris Shah went to Pakpattan at the shrine of Baba Fareed. He later became Imam in a mosque at Malika Hans.

Heer, a romantic folk tale, is considered Waris Shah’s masterpiece.

In the three-day fair of Shah’s urs, various events take place including kabaddi matches, horse dances, Punjabi poetry sessions, dramas of Heer Ranjha and many folk dances.

Ibrahim, a 70-year devotee, who had come to the fair from Shah Kot told Daily Times that the fair was a gathering of those who were against ‘stick-wielding Islam’ and ‘hardcore’ mullahs. He said he had visited the shrine for many years and participation in the fair gave him spiritual peace. He said he was illiterate but his love for Sufism had taught him to say verses. He said he loved participating in the poetry competition held at the festival.

“Waris Shah’s teachings are for lovers. Those who do not believe in love cannot benefit from the shrine”, he said.

He said Waris Shah was a great inspiration for those who believed in love.

Like in other years, this year, a Punjabi poetry competition (Mushiara) was held on the first day of the urs in which winners were awarded cash prizes. Competitions of flute playing and kabaddi were also held on the first day. The final competition and a special programme of reciting folk tales was held on Wednesday.

Bibi Hajan, a devotee from Gujranwala, said Shah was a saint and the wishes of those who visited his shrine were fulfilled. She said there was a tradition at the shrine of tying strings and making a wish. “Those who do not have doubt and malice in their hearts come to open the strings and distribute langar (free food) among the devotees”.

She said she believed that Waris Shah was a mystic who kept the spark of love alight in people’s heart.

Amjad Ali Zaragar, a Lahori dervish said he attended the fair every year along with his followers. He said the place was a refuge for those who had to face criticism for falling in love.
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Auqaf Department Takes Over Shrine After Succession Dispute
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By Abdul Manan - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Auqaf Department has taken over the shrine of Chiragh Ali Shah after a succession dispute within the family of Auqaf minister Sahabzada Saeedul Hassan, Daily Times has learnt.

Sources told Daily Times on Sunday that the minister’s cousins had alleged official manoeuvring on the minister’s part, while the minister, who is an equal claimant to succession of the shrine, called his cousins’ allegation baseless.

The shrine of Chiragh Shah, the Auqaf minister’s grandfather, was formally taken over by the department last week. The minister and his cousin Syed Hassan Hayat are claiming succession.

“Our family has been quarrelling for some time now and this shrine has become the bone of contention,” said Hayat Shah and his younger brother Syed Zahid Hussain Shah.They alleged that Saeedul Hassan had used the Auqaf Department for personal issues and had also violated the shrine’s sanctity.

Zahid Shah claimed that his brother Hayat Shah was the true successor to their grandfather’s legacy.Saeedul Hassan denied the allegations, saying the Auqaf Department had received many complaints from the people against Hayat and Zahid Shah. He said that was why the department decided to step in and control the situation. He said that as a minister it was his responsibility to improve the quality of the shrine and help followers by setting up a darul aloom in the structure.

He also alleged that his cousins went against family tradition and sold taweez (talismans) and other relics to make money. “Their activities are defaming my family and causing problems for us,” he said, adding that he would take a stance against them.

He said Sufism did not preach people to be materialistic and that was why it was wrong for his cousins to do such stuff.

Anwar Ali Shah, the minister’s younger brother, alleged that the cousins had exploited poor women and made money off of them. He said the Auqaf Department would soon ask the brothers to leave the shrine. Tassawar Ejaz Malik, Auqaf Department zonal administrative, said the shrine had been given to the department after a lot of people had complained against the minister’s cousins.

Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Auqaf Department state officer, said that under the Waqf Property Ordinance 1979 and revised rules framed by the department under the ordinance in 2002, the department could take over any shrine or property on the grounds complaints received by locals or if the shrine income was more than its expenditures.

“In the Chiragh Shah shrine case, we received complaints from individuals and also conducted a survey through our administrator and revenue officer,” he said, adding, “The report showed that the income of the shrine was much more than its expenditures”.

Syed Chiragh Ali Shah, commonly known as Baba Jee Sarkar, was a saint and mystic poet who attracted people from far and wide. After his death people built a shrine on his grave. Chiragh Ali Shah was born at Anmbala city in 1877 and adhered to the Qadria Order.

In 1954 he shifted to Walton where he passed away on April 4, 1969. Chiragh Shah served his mentor for 30 years while his son Syed Irshad Hussain Shah, also known as Hafiz Sarkar, served his father for 36 years. Hafiz Sarkar is the Auqaf minister’s father.

On average about 500 devotees visit the shrine every day.
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Islam and Reform Round Up
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By Ali Eteraz - The Huffington Post - NY, NY, U.S.A.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I have noticed a glut of information among average Americans on reform and progressive Islam. This causes many Americans to buy into dishonest ideas about Muslims and the Muslim world, such as: they need us to save themselves.

In this occasional "round up" series I will direct people to interesting theological and political developments as well as good blogs, books and articles on lifestyle stuff.

* Discussion about a major Pakistani scholar who helped repeal the heinous rape laws of 1979 which had required four witnesses to prove a rape case. His sustained attack on violent interpretations of Islam is also highlighted, as well as his background. I consider him one of the three most important Muslims in the world today.

* Blogger compares flirting in New York with flirting in Kuwait. Balances it out with news about female activist who is a role model for Kuwaiti women.

* Essential blog on Muslim world and democracy.

* This blogger wants someone to start monitoring Muslim fashion - and links to some pictures.

* Egyptian-American enters country music, and does it well.

* Major American-Muslim leader says that holocaust denial is against Islam.

* Muslims for Progressive Values, based in the U.S., get their official launch.

* I discover an excellent website to get information about Iran.

* UK Muslim argues that terrorism must be condemned for its "inherent injustice."

* A good book to read about how a Muslim jurist reconcile injustice among Muslims and his faith is The Search for Beauty in Islam.

* In the mood for a novel about genies, Sufis and the Israeli Defense Force? Check out Irving Karchmar's Master of the Jinn. It's Sufism meets The Mummy. In the tradition of cool Sufi things, its affordable!

* Yahya Birt's blog deals with radicalism and deradicalization among UK Muslims, multiculturalism and the Islamic tradition. Heavier, but necessary, fare.

* Harvard Law Review article about one of Pakistan's persecuted minority community.

* Egypt's Grand Mufti affirms liberal democracy. Now if they could only get rid of that dictator.

* In order to recognize that Islamic Reform is not necessarily a theological movement but something part and parcel of world human rights and social justice, it would be apt to read this commentary on the state of the world's human rights by the head of Amnesty International.

* Just so we know there is a lot of hard work left, here are a couple of bad news items.

That's all. If readers wish to share news items they come across, email them to me: eteraz at gmail dot com. If you are a blogger and want to share a post, stop by my blog when I do a "round up call."
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He Spoke It Better
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By Jonathan Rothman - Exclaim! - Canada
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Gaudi is an Italian-born, UK-based producer, composer and arranger with an eclectic discography full of dub-infused surprises.

This time out, he uses sacred vocals from the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (“the Bob Marley of Pakistan”), revered as a master of Qawwali, the devotional Sufi music of the subcontinent.

Dub Qawwali balances the bouncy tones and sampled wonder of dub reggae with Khan’s trademark vocals, in this case newly discovered recordings from late ’60s/early ’70s studio sessions in Pakistan, around which Gaudi was entrusted to compose new music.

Standout tracks like album opener “Bethe Bethe Kese Kese” plays off Khan’s more contemplative side, with backing tablas, flute and Sarangi (Indian fiddle), while “Ena Akhiyan Noo” blends the sublime vocals with easy dancehall and dub.

What’s your connection to the man and his music?
My connection is that of an explorer inspired by the work of a great master. My aim from the start was to create something fresh while staying true to the essence of the material: Nusrat’s vocals. [I now have] an even greater respect for his music, what he achieved, and is still achieving, with and through his music: touching and moving people the world over regardless of colour or creed.

He knew that music is the only truly international language and an amazing way to break down barriers and prejudice. The difference is that he spoke it better than most.

What about Qawwali music compels you to give it the dub/reggae treatment?
I must admit to having a natural compulsion to give everything the dub/reggae treatment — in all my 11 album releases you can definitely spot it. However, in this case I felt this urge was fully supported by Nusrat.

Sufism teaches peace, love and tolerance, something for which Nusrat was a very active and global ambassador. This is what I have tried, in my way, to convey through this album — a musical melting of boundaries and unification through song.

[Listen to samples: http://www.amazon.com/Dub-Qawwali-Gaudi/dp/B000RHRG4O ]
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Rumi Festival 2007
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The Rifa'i Maruf'i Order of North America invites seekers of all ages to the 10th Rumi Festival
celebrating the 800th Birthday of Rumi.

The Festival will be held from Wednesday, September 26th to Sunday, September 30th,
in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A., with concerts, workshops, zikr and various events.

Read more about this joyous event and register online at:
http://www.melloweb.com/home/
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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Solitary Devotion
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By Vivek Sharma - Desicritics.org - Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Rilke is the Rumi, Kabir, Gibran of the German language. As a poet, as a seeker, he explored the limits of his knowledge and belief. He translated his solitary thoughts into poetry which has music, meaning and agelessness.

What this prose, these letters contain is a faithful, forthright, candid and very modest, searching, guiding voice of Rilke.

In these letters, written to a younger poet, who sought Rilke's guidance, Rilke chalks out his whole ideology of what poetry must be, and how a poet must reach above, beyond and deep within himself, to arrive at the inevitable verse, which is both timely and timeless, not only for himself but also for the reader.

As a craft, poetry is full of solitary devotion. The premium and investment in terms of poet's emotional and intellectual effort is seldom rewarded. A poet lives on the edge, and always runs the danger of tipping into the pits of self-pity, destruction and death-like poverty.

The world seldom honors a poet in his prime, rather the best of the best poets compose their work in spite of the social, political and economic obligations they need to fulfill, obligations that motivate poetry, as well as impede the writing of it.

Sheer talent is not enough, mere vocabulary does not quite make you one, rhyming words and dedication are mere abilities, knowledge of published works is important, and yet what Rilke strove for, what Rilke achieved and what he advises the readers/poets to seek is a state where all these attributes synchronize to produce a poem that is at once lyrical and philosophical, understated yet powerful, terse yet tactful, and most importantly, honest and heartfelt.

There are very few books that have touched the poet in me thus. Maugham's Of Human Bondage and Tolstoy's War and Peace come to my mind when I think of effectiveness of Rilke's prose. Yet Rilke, like his Russian idols, is bathed in realism, he seeks for life outside cities and savors spirituality that he most probably carried within him. Selected Poems of Rilke translated by Robert Bly is a recommended resource, as is The Book of Hours (whose new translation is only couple of years old).

I will encourage every writer, who takes his vocation with seriousness to read Rilke. Like Neruda, Shakespeare, Kalidasa, Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Goethe, Tagore, Pushkin, Ghalib, Hafez, Basho, Dinkar, Tulsidas, Homer, Milton and Lorca, Rilke is a must read poet for everyone interested in poetry and life. This book is a collection of letters, so is not to be confused with Poetry Handbooks or Guides that are available everywhere. These letters are personal admissions and advice of Rilke to a younger poet.

Rilke started writing these when he was in late twenties, and was still groping for his voice, his intention, his ability. The letters are moving and touching. They are like streams of thought that will shape the terrain they flow through, assuage the thirst of ones who arrive at them and if you let yourself go, carry you to the ocean of consciousness.

Vivek Sharma is a poet, an engineer, a scientist and a writer. He is published in both refereed literary and science journals, and his poetry was recently nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He contributes articles to Divya Himachal (Hindi newspaper in India) and online to himachal.us, desicritics.org and blogcritics.org.
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What's the Secret?
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By Haroon Siddiqui - The Star - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Dakar, Senegal: We know Senegal as the westernmost point of Africa, a shipping point of the old slave trade, and, lately, the Dakar Rally and as West Africa's most politically stable country where governments change democratically.

Senegal should also be known as the nation that upends the West's received wisdom on Muslims.
This is not Al Qaeda turf. And the 10 million people (94 per cent Muslim, 6 per cent Christian) here don't fit any cliché.

There are no hijabs in sight, but women are observant. They pray at work and in the mosques, where, unlike in some Muslim lands, they are welcome.

What's most striking about the women – more than their colourful long robes and matching turbans – is their confident bearing. They exhibit neither hostility nor deference to men. They seem their sovereign selves.

They enjoy equality in property and other matters under a law that's a fusion of the sharia and the French civil code.

Singing and dancing are integral parts of life. Youssou N'Dour, the singer, songwriter and band leader whose keening, haunting voice transcends the language barrier to touch audiences the world over, learned to perform with his mother, a griot singer of oral songs dating back to pre-Islamic times.

Music here is infused with the spirituality of the Islamic Sufi sects to which most Senegalese belong. In his Grammy-winning CD, Egypt (2004), N'Dour invokes "Touba, Touba," the headquarters of the Mouridi order of which he is a member.

Touba, 200 kilometres north of Dakar, is where the sect's founder Shaikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacke (1850-1927) is buried. In 1891, the mystic claimed to have seen the Prophet Muhammad in a dream. As he amassed a mass following, the French colonials feared he might raise an army of resistance. They exiled him, to Gabon (1895-1902) and Mauritania (1903-1907). That only made him more popular.

The French let him return once they realized he was a pacifist, like Mahatma Gandhi in India against British colonial rule.

Bamba was also apolitical, preaching the Greater Jihad of controlling oneself, a war fought not with weapons but, as per his simplified creed, hard work and fidelity to the spiritual master.
His mausoleum is a popular place of pilgrimage. His descendant, Shaikh Saliou Mbacke, is the current head of the sect.

The day I was there he was available to his followers, not to speak to but to be glimpsed at through an iron grille as he sat in a silent praying repose. Such veneration – saint worship, in critical theological parlance – is not exclusive to Senegal. But it seemed to me to be pervasive here.

The evening I returned from Touba, I went to listen to a backup singer for Baaba Ma'al, that other great Senegalese performer, and saw the bar crowd swaying to his Sufi chant of "Mouridi, Mouridi."

Religion is not divisive here. Churches stand next to mosques. Muslim-Christian marriages are common. The first post-colonial president, Leopold Senghor (1960-80), was a Christian. An acclaimed poet, he remains an icon for Muslims as well.

"He taught us that before we were Christian or Muslim, we were Negroes," says Boucounta Diallo, a noted lawyer, who served as Senghor's aide. "We have African and Christian and Muslim identities. And our faith, Islam or Christianity, is a moderating force."

During the Danish cartoon crisis, there was no rioting, though the people were no less offended.
"When a Muslim is hurt anywhere, I am hurt as well but it doesn't mean I have to react the way he does," Atou Diagne, a senior Mouridi executive in Touba, told me.

What's the secret of Senegalese serenity?
"You have to draw your own conclusions."

Not all moderation is spiritual. The government tends to be authoritarian and people know their limits.

The point about the Senegalese way is not whether it is right or wrong but that it is a testimonial to the diversity of Muslims.

[picture: Gazelles "dama mhorr" from the Guembeul Wildlife Park.
Photo: Laurent Gerrer, Senegal Tourist Office http://www.tourisme-senegal.com/index.html]


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Qawwali at the Shrine
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PTI - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Sunday, July 22, 2007

The 795th annual Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti virtually concluded Sunday, July 22, with thousands of devouts witnessing the performing of the Chatti ka Rasma here.

"With today's rituals nearly 90 per cent of the Urs is considered over," said Qutubuddin Saki, a khadim at the shrine. "Most of the devouts have already started returning," he said.

The Urs that began on July 16 will finally conclude on Wednesday July 25 [today] with the performing of the Bade Kul ki Rasma when the whole shrine would be cleaned and fragrant waters sprinkled.

A chadar on behalf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was offered today. Nearly 2.5 lakh [250'000] devouts participated in the Urs.

Every night, qawwali mehfils were also organised at the shrine premises.

[picture: The dargah of Khwaja Mo'inuddin Chishti, Ajmer.
Photo from The Chishti Website http://www.chishti.ru/index.html]
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Within the Borders of İstanbul
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By Zeki Gülen - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Friday, July 20, 2007

İstanbul has been named European Capital of Culture for 2010. When we talk about culture and cultural activities in İstanbul, we consistently see one name again and again: Kültür A.Ş.

The company, which translates into English as the Culture Commercial Corporation, undertakes cultural activities and projects within the borders of İstanbul.

The numerous tasks it undertakes are appreciated of Turkey's cultural capital's residents. Kültür A.Ş. General Director Nevzat Bayhan, an author and a lover of İstanbul, talked about their activities and the plans of the company in an interview with Today's Zaman.

Kültür A.Ş. is one of 22 corporations of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. It was established in 1989 to carry out the municipality's cultural policies. It has been consistently growing since its beginning and its growth is accelerating.

It also has a bookstore specializing in İstanbul, where those interested can lay their hands on myriad books about the city. From this point of view, the bookstore is unique in Turkey and even in the world, Mr. Bayhan claims.

Kültür A.Ş is also a prolific publisher. It publishes books about İstanbul and İstanbul's cultural heritage. Among these are "The Women's Heritage of the East" (Doğunun Kadın Mirası), "Foreign Palaces in İstanbul" (İstanbul'da Yabancı Saraylar) and "Photographs of İstanbul from the Archives of Sultan Abdülhamid II" (2. Abdülhamit Han Arşivinden İstanbul Fotoğrafları).

(...)

Mr. Bayhan also mentioned a periodical that Kültür A.Ş. Publishes: "1453." He explains why they chose the publication's headline as the year that the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople.

"We believe that the city's diversified life started in 1453. The believers of the three monotheistic religions came together to live in peace and harmony. However these days you cannot see a single place in the world where these people live together in peace. So we named it 1453."

Bayhan also commented on UNESCO's decision to label 2007 as the Year of Mevlana. But first he apologized to the people of Konya: "[Mevlana Jelaluddin] Rumi was born in Belh and lived in Konya. However, Rumi's philosophy and thoughts developed and lived in İstanbul, which was the capital of the Ottoman state. Therefore, we had to organize many activities to introduce him to the world in this year".

"We organized many different activities and our activities are still ongoing. We organized events about Rumi in Taksim Square, Bakırköy Square and the Harbiye Open-air Theater. Those activities will continue until Dec. 17".

[picture: Kültür A.Ş. General Director Nevzat Bayhan poses for a photograph next to a replica of the Haydarpaşa Train Station at Miniatürk. Miniatürk is a park that boasts miniature replicas of historical buildings in Turkey, operated by Kültür A.Ş.]

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Monday, July 23, 2007

Introducing Rumi: from Story-telling to Postcards Making
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MNA -Mehr News - Tehran, Iran

Friday, July 20, 2007

The Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) plans to set up several camps for more than 600 young adults in commemoration of the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi from July 21 until August 18.

Five separate groups of young people from different provinces, including active members of IIDCYA’s libraries, winners of book-reading competitions and junior writers will be sent to Delgosha Camp in Chalus (a city in north Iran).

The various programs which will be organized include introducing Rumi in story-telling sessions, literary workshops on poetry, reciting stories from the Masnavi, reviewing books on the theme of Masnavi’s stories and making postcards on the topic of the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi.

IIDCYA will either publish the participants’ artistic and literary works in the form of books or display them in an exhibition in the near future.
[picture: an IIDCYA' Children's publication, from: http://tinyurl.com/24ln35 ]
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Sunday, July 22, 2007

We Should Start with Dialogue
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By Akbar Ahmed - The Washington Post - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Rajab 8, 1428 / Sunday, July 22, 2007

What went wrong: Bush Still Doesn't Get It

Here's a bit of modern-day heresy: President Bush actually has some rather sound instincts about the Muslim world. He has visited mosques more often than any of his predecessors, and he frequently talks of winning Muslim hearts and minds. So why are those hearts and minds so estranged today? What went wrong?

The problem is that Bush has relied on ill-informed advisers and out-of-touch experts. By substituting their false expertise for his own sensible intuitions, he has failed to understand the Muslim world -- which means he has failed to understand the arena in which the first post-9/11 presidency will be judged. Instead of seriously explaining Muslim societies that are profoundly split in complex ways, Bush's aides have offered a fatally flawed stereotype of Islam as monolithic and violent.

These missteps have helped squander the potential goodwill of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- countries that pose major threats to U.S. security, and countries that once saw themselves as U.S. friends. (When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, I was the administrator in charge of south Waziristan, the lawless border region of Pakistan where Osama bin Laden is now said to be hiding, and I saw how appreciative Muslims were of U.S. support.) Today, rather than extending his hand to the people of Pakistan, Bush is marching in lockstep with the country's fading dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is mockingly referred to as "Busharraf."

Errors like this are tragic -- and avoidable. Galvanized by the need to help Americans better comprehend the Muslim world, I traveled last year to the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, accompanied by a group of American researchers. We conducted interviews; we met with presidents, prime ministers, sheiks and students; we visited mosques, madrassas and universities. During our travels, we found something far more subtle than the Bush administration's caricature.

Americans often hear of a faith neatly split between "moderates" and "extremists." In fact, we discovered three broad categories of Muslim responses to the modern world: the mystics, the modernists and the literalists.

The mystics are the most tolerant and the least political, defined by a universalist worldview that embraces difference rather than resisting it. Muslims in this group look to sages such as the great Sufi poet Rumi for inspiration. "I go to a synagogue, church and a mosque, and I see the same spirit and the same altar," Rumi once said. You'll find today's mystics in such places as Iran, Morocco and Turkey.

Then there's the modernist position, one taken by Muslims who seek to adapt to Western modernity, synthesize it with their faith traditions and live in dialogue with it. Some of the most prominent Muslim thinkers in recent times have belonged to this school, such as Muhammad Abduh, the liberal Egyptian religious scholar who led a drive in the late 19th century to shake the dust off Islamic institutions and dogmas that he believed were lagging behind the times.

Some of the most important Muslim politicians, such as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the staunchly secularist founder of modern Turkey, have felt similar impatience with the faith's old ways.

You'll still find plenty of modernists in Turkey today, as well as such countries as Jordan and Malaysia. In fact, a few decades ago it seemed that these forward-looking interpretations would become the dominant expression of Islam, and reform-minded Muslim countries seemed poised to join the community of nations.

For me, the quintessential modernist was Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. The urbane, sophisticated Jinnah believed ardently in women's rights and minority rights, and in 1947, he almost single-handedly created what was then the largest Muslim nation on Earth. For Pakistanis, he is George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson rolled into one. He founded a new country without compromising his principles or breaking the law, rejected hostage-takings, hijackings and assassinations, and he idolized Abraham Lincoln.

Jinnah is a far cry from our third category, the literalists. This group also arose in the 19th century, but it draws its ethos, attitudes and rhetoric from one central perception: that Islam is under attack. It sees Western ideas such as liberalism, women's rights and democracy as threats, not opportunities.

In response to the incursions into the Muslim world of the great Western empires, this group sought to draw firm boundaries around Islam and prevent it from being infected by alien influences. The literalist worldview has inspired a range of Muslim activists, from the Taliban to mainstream political parties such as South Asia's Jamaat-i-Islami, which participate in elections while producing influential tracts on Islam. While this entire school's theology is profoundly traditional, only a tiny minority of the group advocates terrorism.

The vast majority of Muslim literalists simply want to live according to what they see as the best traditions of their faith.

But you're more likely to see media images of bearded young men wearing skullcaps and yelling "God is great" and "Death to the Great Satan" than you are to see scholars at work. The angry activists are now on the ascendancy, according to our study. The reasons for their rise are complex: the incompetence and corruption of modernist Muslim leaders from Egypt to Pakistan to Southeast Asia; the widening gap between a crooked elite and the rest of the population; the absence of decent schools, economic opportunities and social welfare programs; and the failure of modernist leaders to douse burning regional conflicts such as Chechnya, Kashmir and Palestine.

The U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan poured gallons of fuel on a worldwide fire. Bush's wars gave the literalists support for their claim that Islam is under siege; the crude Muslim-bashing of some of Bush's supporters helps the literalists argue that Islam is also being attacked by the Western media, which many Muslims believe represents the thinking of the West's citizenry.

In this context, parodies of the prophet Muhammad or the cloddish Republican talking point branding Muslims as "Islamofascists" helped convince wavering Muslims that their faith was truly a target.

Remember Jerry Falwell's post-9/11 abuse of the Prophet, in which the late televangelist dismissed as a "terrorist" the man whom Muslims named as their foremost role model in our questionnaires? Such slurs helped boost Pakistani religious parties in the 2002 elections in Northwest Frontier Province, where the clerics had never before won more than a few seats. Overnight, the Taliban found a friendly base.

Americans who think that all Muslims hate the United States may be surprised to hear that many Muslims believe they have it precisely backward. Our questionnaires showed that Muslims worldwide viewed Islamophobia in the West as the No. 1 threat they faced. Many Muslims told us that the Western media depict them as terrorists or likens them to Nazis.

Such widespread perceptions let literalist clerics argue that Islam must defend itself against a rapacious West -- something the mystics and modernists were incapable of doing.

Today, all these factors have coalesced to convince ordinary Muslims -- from Somalia to Indonesia -- that Islam is indeed threatened and that the United States is leading the charge. As a Muslim, I grieve the fact that modernist leaders such as Jinnah have become irrelevant. And as someone living in the United States, I fear that the danger of another terrorist strike is as high as ever.

Our study did suggest ways to make progress. With a wiser strategy and a mighty reduction of hubris, the United States could still improve its relations with the Muslim world. Americans need to accept that the Muslim literalists are here to stay, that their position is deeply felt and that it deserves to be engaged with. U.S. policymakers need to keep an eye on the mystics and modernists, too; they are not the problem, but continued attacks on Islam will push many of them into supporting the literalists.

To change the tenor of Washington's conversations with the Muslim world, symbolic gestures are important, such as Bush's visits to American mosques. But we need substantive action, too. For one thing, U.S. diplomats should make an effort to come out from their embassy fortresses and meet with cultural and religious leaders. That simple step would do much to make friends for America.

Beyond that, Washington's interaction with Muslim nations needs to be better thought out. We need to marginalize the violent fringe and build deeper ties with mainstream literalists who are suspicious of the West but shun violence. Take U.S. aid to Pakistan, which has added up to about $10 billon since 9/11. Much of this goes toward buying gunships and tanks, which ordinary Pakistanis say are used against them. In other words, U.S. aid is being used in ways that boost anti-Americanism -- hardly a smart policy.

Instead, the United States should stipulate that half of its aid go to building up Pakistan's tattered educational structures, with a special focus on madrassas that eschew violence. Overnight, hearts and minds would begin to change; Muslims hold education especially dear, and if governments won't provide it, parents will be tempted to go to whomever will.

Bush does not have much time left, but he can still avert disaster. Above all, we should start with dialogue. We might wind up with friendship.

About the Author: Akbar Ahmed is the Ibn Khaldun chairman of Islamic studies at American University and the author, most recently, of "Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization."

[picture: A female Iranian, wearing the Islamic Chador, passes by a painting of a revolver in front of the former US embassy in Teheran. Image by © Abedin Taherkenareh/epa/Corbis]

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Journeys With My Grandpa
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By Jon Fear - The Record - Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, July 21, 2007

Journeys with my Grandpa by Inci Kuzucuoglu

Inci Kuzucuoglu of Kitchener (Ontario) is the author of three books in the Turkish language. This is her first in English.

It presents Sufi stories (Sufism is a tradition of beliefs within Islam) that were written or told by her husband's great-great-grandfather.

Presented in the form of letters to young people, the stories offer advice on life.

Inci Kuzucuoglu
Journeys with my Grandpa
Ilbeyi Publications
softcover, 108 pages, $14.95

To order this book, write by e-mail to mailto:kuzucuoglu@hotmail.com or by post to Ilbeyi Publications, 510 Pioneer Dr., Kitchener, N2P 1N5.
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Konya Sufis Are Coming Home
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Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Saturday, July 21, 2007

The works of Konya Sufis set to return to their homeland

The works of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, Sadreddin Konevi and Ibn Arabi, all citizens of Konya at one time or another in centuries gone by, have long resided in various countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Azer-baijan, France and Iran, but not for much longer.

Various tomes and commentaries on their writings are finally coming home to roost in a new, purpose-built department at the Konya Manuscripts Library.

The director of the library, Bekir Şahin, announced they had launched a joint project with the Mevlana Research Center of Seljuk University to bring together the works of Mevlana, Sadreddin Konevi and Ibn Arabi, all of which occupy an invaluable place in Turco-Islamic culture and with inextricable ties to Konya.

Şahin also mentioned that they were planning another section in the library dedicated to Nasreddin Hodja.

They have managed to trace and bring much of the renowned Sufi manuscripts to Konya already, but there is still plenty to do.

"We have been working for over a year. We worked hard as this year is the [UNESCO designated] Year of Rumi," Şahin recalled, adding: "We are planning to gather all that was written on their ideas and these men of love. Up till now, we have been focusing our efforts on locating their work.
Our efforts to bring them to Konya continue. This will not be a limited process: We will continue to bring all such works to Konya in the coming years."

He highlighted that the oldest known copy of Mevlana's masterpiece, "Mesnevi," was already being displayed in the manuscripts library.

"We found the older copies particularly in Azerbaijan and Dubai. We brought in one of Konevi's works, a diary, from the Yusufağa Manuscripts Library, also in Konya. We have been given serious support by the Sadreddin Konevi Research Center, founded by the Meram Municipality"

"We have currently found 73 manuscripts related to Nasreddin Hodja. We also found that France is an important source for manuscripts. We have thus formed an important resource on Nasreddin Hodja," he said.

[picture: Konya Books from http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/archive.html]

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Saturday, July 21, 2007

A Living Example
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Times of India - India
Friday, July 20, 2007

Ajmer: Nearly 2.5 lakh [250'000] Muslims offered Friday prayers at the annual Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti here on Friday with two Union ministers offering chadar on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Union ministers Prithviraj Chauhan and N N Meena offered the chadar at the dargah.

A chadar sent by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will be offered at the tomb on Saturday.

As many as 462 Pakistanis attended the prayers conducted by Shahar Kaji Hafij Tauseef.


In his message sent on the occasion, Manmohan Singh said Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti spread the message of love, affection, brotherhood and integrity among all humans.

The visit to the dargah by people of all religions is a living example of acceptance of the Khwaja's preachings. Singh also called upon people of the country to take inspirations from the life and work of the Khwaja.

The 795th edition of the Urs that began on Monday, July 16 will end on Sunday, July 22.

The dargah premises was totally packed with devouts by 11 am for the afternoon prayers.

[picture: Entrance to the cave wherein Khwaja Mo'inuddin Chishti performed his retreat.
Photo from: The Chishti Website http://www.chishti.ru/index.html]
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Friday, July 20, 2007

Rare Bird Flies Free
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By Peyman Nasehpour - Persian Mirror - U.S.A.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

The outstanding master of daf and Sufi music, Haj Khalifeh Mirza Agha Ghosi passed away on July 17, 2007, as Iranian news agencies reported.

Ostad Mirza Agha Ghosi was born in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province of Iran, 1928. He learned the art of daf playing and Sufi vocal music during his teenage from his father the late Haji Ghosi and later Darvish Karim.

He was appointed 'Khalifeh' (spritual leader) by Sheikh Abdolkarim Kasnazani of Kirkuk, a city in Kurdistan of Iraq. He was one of the oldest daf players of Iran and he had a very nice vocals. He performed in many festivals in Iran, France, Colombia, Turkey, Panama, Peru and Ecuador.

In the famous Avignon Festival he was entitled to 'Rare Bird'.

[visit: http://www.rhythmweb.com/peyman/
for more on Persian and Azerbaijiani percussion music]

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Nostalgia for Istanbul
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By Kathy Hamilton - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Thursday, July 19, 2007

One of the best places for an escape from the heat of the day, or the overexertion from shopping in the Grand Bazaar, is Çorlulu Alipaşa Medresesi, built between 1707 and 1708, under the auspices of the grand vizier to Ahmet III, Ali Paşa of Çorlu.

Originally built as a medrese, or theological school, it also served as a Qadiri Sufi tekke, or dervish lodge. When all the Sufi orders were closed after the beginning of the republic, this tekke’s doors closed too.

The cells that had once housed religious students and dervishes were rented out to shoe makers.

During the 1960s and early 1970s it was converted into student dormitories. In the mid-1970s its current incarnation began as it became a local center for carpet sellers and restorers.

The enchanting nargile garden, entered through an archway from the tram street, is one of the main reasons people stop here. Wisps of the softly scented tobaccos waft overhead and fill the air with their aromas. This shady garden is the ideal site for unwinding over a glass of tea or coffee. Water pipes are not smoked to relieve tension, but instead, are a way to linger with friends old and new and pass the time.

There is no hurry here -- everyone is welcome to stay for as long as they like, perhaps striking up conversations and friendships with their neighbors at the next table who also appreciate the art of relaxation.

The second side of the medrese is often overlooked by tourists, but it draws carpet dealers, textile collectors and museum curators from around the world. While life in the first courtyard revolves around the leisurely pace of the tea garden, this part of the complex is centered on carpets and kilims, flat woven rugs. The restorers in this area are known worldwide for their exacting work.

In nice weather you can find them huddled over carpets spread out in the courtyard next to the small mosque. If you’re lucky, you may even find Sufi story teller, amateur historian, actor and renowned carpet expert Abdullah Gündoğdu working in his shop or tending the flower garden.

This is an ideal place to look at carpets in a hassle-free environment and ask questions. In contrast to the bazaar and Sultanahmet carpet stores with salesmen trying to lure in customers, here the atmosphere is so easygoing that it sometimes seems that the shopkeepers are more intent on visiting and sipping tea than concentrating on making sales to the few tourists who happen to wander through.

This famous setting is well worth the visit. The ambiance evokes a sense of nostalgia for İstanbul as it was before the tour busses and millions of residents arrived to quicken the pace of everyday life. Here is a place to withdraw from sensory overload and stress while calmly reflecting on events of the day and letting your biggest worry be which flavor of tobacco and what type of tea you will have next.

The easiest way to get to Çorlulu Alipaşa Medresesi is by tram. The archways leading to the courtyards face Yeniçeriler Caddesi, the tramway street. From the Çemberlitaş stop, walk towards to Grand Bazaar. The entrance will be on the right side. From the Beyazıt tram stop, walk past the entrance to the bazaar and the medrese will be on the left. The nargile garden is open daily from mid-morning until past midnight.

[Picture: The nargile garden has long been known as a favorite hang out for university professors, students and tourists.]
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Seeking Restoration
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UNI - Indlaw.com - New Delhi, India
Wednesday, July 18, 2007

The Gujarat High Court has issued notices to state government and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by All Gujarat Minorities Association seeking restoration of dargah of Sufi Vali Gujarati here.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Y R Meena and Justice Akil Kureshi, issued notices to the state and AMC, which are returnable by August 13.

A PIL was filed by All Gujarat Minorities Association, through its secretary Pathan Firozkhan Ahmedkhan, seeking restoration of dargah.

Advocate Dr Mukul Sinha, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the riotous mob, supported by the ruling party, had gone on rampage and demolished the dargah on February 28, 2002. Adv Sinha submitted that after demolishing the dargah, the mob had constructed a make-shift mandir 'Hulladiya Godhariya Hanuman', which was later removed by the AMC.

According to petitioner, Vali Gujarati, as he was popularly known, was a renowned Sufi Saint; therefore, it is essential to protect and preserve the historical heritage and culture of the country.

The petitioner stated that they had made several attempts in the past for restoration of the shrine and had approached the government, AMC and even the NHRC, but none came forward to help them in restoration of the dargah.
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Thursday, July 19, 2007

Koinna at Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival
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By Ershad Kamol - The Daily Star - Dhaka, Bangladesh

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

As part of the ongoing Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival '07, arranged by Theatre Troupe Mahakal Natyasampradaya to mark its 24th anniversary, Prachyanat* will stage Koinna today [July 18th] at the Experimental Stage.

Koinna, a play by Murad Khan, brings to light a debate between Shariah and Marfat.

Inhabitants of a make-believe village, Kalaruka, believe that the spirit 'Koinna Pir' has possessed a widower, Naior. The villagers are also convinced that Bahurupi, the inseparable companion of Koinna Pir, lives in the pond near Naior's house.

Kalaruka residents are followers of Marfat (a branch of Sufism) and consider Naior as their saviour. On the other hand, Shahebzada and his followers, who are the followers of Shariah, strongly oppose the existence of Koinna Pir.

The play ends with a conflict between the two rival groups.

Azad Abul Kalam is the director of the play. M. Shaiful Islam is the set and light designer.

---

On the inaugural ceremony [July 14th] of the Citycell-Mahakal Theatre Festival '07, arranged by Mahakal Natyasampradaya to celebrate its 24th anniversary, discussants urged for a change in the contemporary theatre scenario of Bangladesh.

Eminent playwright-litterateur Syed Shamsul Haque was the chief guest at the inaugural session, which was held yesterday at the Experimental Theatre Stage. Other renowned theatre personalities speaking at the programme were Ataur Rahman, Mamunur Rashid, Nasiruddin Yousuff, Tariq Anam Khan and Golam Kuddus.

The session was presided over by MA Azad, president of Mahakal Natyasampradaya. Meer Zahid Hassan, convenor of the festival committee delivered the welcome speech.

Reviewing the current theatre scenario of the country theatre director-actor-playwright Tariq Anam said, "It's true that some new theatre venues have been operating in the country, but how many quality productions we are offering and how many people are watching those plays? Unless the participation of the younger generation as theatre activists as well as audience is ensured we can't expect a boom in theatre."

Other cultural programmes held on the opening ceremony were a staging of a few scenes from Shikhondikatha by the actors of Mahakal and presentation of a srutinataok (recitation of a theatre performance) titled Hazar Churashir Maa, by the artistes of Katha Abritti Charcha Kendra.

Moreover, Chanu Gayener Dal from Manikganj performed Kalu Gazir Pala, an indigenous performing art form based production. In the evening Mahakal Natyasampradaya staged Shikhondikatha, written by Anon Zaman and directed by Haroonur Rashid. Shikhondikatha features the sufferings and struggles of the transgendered individuals.

The 11-day theatre festival continues till July 25 with a gap of two days. Other plays included in the festival are Bhager Manush, Shamayer Proyojoney, Koinna, Projapoti, Bou Bashonti, Rupoboti, Jalodash, Meraj Fakirer Maa, Nakshi Kanthar Math and Raarang.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/07/14/d707141401125.htm

*Prachyanat School of Acting and Design, an offshoot of the young theatre group Prachyanat.

[picture: Actors of Prachyanat in Koinna ]
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Conquerors of the Heart
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[From the French language press]:

Le processus d’islamisation a été entamé par les commerçants et les juristes. Mais force est de reconnaître que c’est avec l’Islam confrérique que la religion musulmane a conquis les cœurs des populations de l’Afrique subsaharienne.

Le Soleil, Sénégal - mercredi 18 juillet 2007 - par Babacar Bachir Sane

The process of Islamization was started by the tradesmen and the lawyers. But force is to recognize that it is with the Islam of Brotherhoods that the religion of Islam conquered the hearts of the populations of sub-Saharan Africa.

Introducing “Tijaniya, cement of the co-operation between Senegal and Morocco” (during the "week of Senegal" in Morocco), the Moroccan scholar Jellali el-Adnani, said that the practice of Sufism by the sub-Saharan communities, in particular by the Wolof community of Senegal made it possible to tie very strong relations between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Many pilgrims in departure or on return from Mecca do visit the tomb of the founder of the tariqa [Tijaniya] in Fez. For Jellali El Adnani, the relations between Sénégal and Morocco should not stop at the stage of Brotherhoods, they should open more, the more so as the number of affiliated in Senegal is the largest in th Islamic world.

[picture from http://www.fao.org/ ]
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Is it Taqwa or Loneliness?
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By Abdul Manan - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Shrines, as opposed to popular belief, still seem to be greatly visited by Lahoris, as indicated by the Auqaf Department officials that more than three million people visit shrines every month.

Many moderate-religious scholars and psychiatrists of Lahore seem to think that the activity is aimed to escape from reality.

Devotees, on the other hand, declared it a means to purify, achieve mental satisfaction that arrives from the feeling of fulfilling religious duties and a platform to thank God.

There are 53 shrines and tombs of Sufi Saints in Lahore that fall under the Auqaf Department. The most visited shrine was of Syed Abul Hassan Ali (Data Gunj Baksh) with an average of 1.5 million people every month, said Dr Tahir Raza, director of religious affairs at the Auqaf Department. Other popularly visited shrines are of Baba Shah Jamal, Mian Mir, Bibian Pakdaman, Madhu Lal, Pir Makki, Shahabuddin Punj Pir, Shah Chiragh, Shah Inayat Qadri, Phiro Shaheed, Bagh Ali Shah, Pir Bhola, Syed Musa, Shah Gada, Miran Badsha, Pir Hassan Shah Wali, Abdullah Shah Bukhari, Syed Mahmood Shah and Ghore Shah Saeen.

Islamic scholar and member of Council of Islamic Ideology and executive director of Al Maward Institute in Lahore Allama Javaid Ahmad Ghamidi said the material-oriented lifestyle of the West had penetrated even in the bedrooms of the East because of the media.

He said as a result, people wanted an escape from their superficial lives to explore their spiritual selves; therefore, they sought refuge in mysticism.

He said, “Sufi Saints aimed to spread the message of love, peace, building of interfaith harmony and brotherhood, and to end hatred to enhance humanity, therefore, we should follow the examples set by them.”

Dr Saad Malik, head of the Psychiatry Department of Allama Iqbal Medical University and the Jinnah Hospital, contradicted the spiritual reasoning behind visiting shrines.

He said that back in the day, families were more closely knit. He said if an issue was encountered, the entire clan would sit together to resolve it, hence each family member had the support of the rest of the family.

He said nowadays, the tables had turned with a greater degree of individuality and independence of each family member. He said the change was not a negative one, but on the flip side, people had become more insecure, as every man was for himself. He added that it was the insecurity and the feeling of loneliness that drove people to shrines.

He said it was a psychological issue rather than a spiritual one.
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